Let's be Friends Again!
by Ayaoi-chan
Summary: Feliciano and Ludwig were once the best of friends but entering high school changed everything.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1: Feliciano's Bad day**

Ve~ There were only one thing that I could not deal with this world. Being late.

When I woke up 30 minutes later than usual, I knew right away that today was going to be a very bad day for me.

"Ve?! Grandpa!" I yelled as I quickly got out of bed and searched for my boxer shorts.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I yelled but there was no response.

I looked at the time and noticed that it had reset and was blinking 12:00 am.

"Stupid digital clock! This is your fault!" I muttered as I pulled out my towel and rushed to the bathroom.

After brushing my teeth and taking a quick shower, I quickly put on my uniform and shoes. I was running way too late to care about my looks or combing my hair. When I left my room, I picked up my backpack and screamed in frustration when all of the books inside it fell out.

"Gyaaahhh!" I yelled, but quickly bent down and repacked it in an orderly fashion and after zipping my bag up again, I ran out of my bedroom and down the stairs.

I looked at my big brother Lovino who was leaning against the counter, sipping some coffee.

"Grandpa left for work, you idiota." He said.

"Then, why didn't you wake me up?" I asked as I grabbed Lovino's coffee from him and started to drink it.

"Hey! That's my fuckin—" Lovino looked me up and down with his light green eyes.

"You're a fucking mess." He continued as he picked up my school necktie from the counter and threw it at me.

I caught it with my free hand and quickly put my necktie after finishing the coffee.

"I'll give you a ride, you stupid little brother." Lovino said.

"R-really? Thank you, brother!" I smiled and gave him a hug.

And a short moment later, I was off to school. I think being a teenager is one of the hardest stages in a person's life. Especially in this day and age. You had to worry about school, about a social life, about family, and even about figuring out who you are as a person and where you want to be one day — sometimes that's too much to handle. The worst part was that I was in twelfth grade, that meant University and College applications were on my mind as well and that means more stress.

I often hated school but that was a normal thing for kids like me. Kids who had no mother and father, kids who lacked popularity, kids who lacked a social life, and kids who just hated seeing certain people that they only ever saw at school. But I have to say, being quiet, friendly and apparently shy was a great way to make my life a little bit easier. Especially in my school, where drama was an everyday thing.

After Lovino dropped me off, I gave him a kiss on his cheek and rushed to my locker. Classes had already started and I tried my best to ignore the angry looks of the hall monitors as I reached my locker and opened the lock.

"Good morning staff and students!"

I jumped, dropping my lock onto the floor and cursing the morning announcements in my head.

"Today is Monday. Please stand up for the playing of the school's anthem!"

"Stop walking and stand still!" I heard Sir Vash's voice, the Swiss hall monitor yell at some students, probably including me. I swallowed in frustration.

A minute later, when the school's song had ended, I went back to my locker and pull out some of my textbooks while ignoring Sir Vash's so important announcements. Finally, I closed my locker and rushed down the narrow but squeaky clean halls of Hetalia High School and up the staircase to my Anthropology class. But when I reached the door to the classroom, I froze.

Another student walking towards me froze too. We then looked at each other for a moment, and for that moment, I forgot that I was late for class. He's Ludwig Beilschmidt, my ex-German best friend, was standing in front of me. Wow, what a day to look your worst and feel your worst. I was going to smile at him but he stepped forward and opened the classroom door and stood there, waiting for me to go in.

"T-thanks…" I said as I walked into the room without looking him in the eyes.

Then, my French teacher, Mr. Francis Bonnefoy, looked up. He was our anthropology teacher and honestly, he was one of the hottest teacher in our school. He had gorgeous deep blue eyes and soft shoulder-length blond hair and was tall, had an average build and a lovely deep voice.

"Feliciano," He said, making me stop at the door.

"I'm not surprised you're late." He continued.

"Ve~ I'm sorry." I smiled, giving him a sad, apologetic look.

He smiled at me but then his eyes fell on Ludwig who had already walked past me and was sitting in his seat.

"Ludwig? You're late? That's a surprise." Mr. Bonnefoy said.

"I'm sorry, sir." Ludwig said.

Mr. Bonnefoy shook his head and then looked at me. "Alright, get to your seat, Feliciano."

I nodded and walked over to my seat which was at the opposite end of the classroom from Ludwig, and noticed that students were not in their regular seats today. Whatever, I didn't talk to many students in this class anyway. So, I just went to my regular seat.

After getting settled, I leaned back into my seat and secretly looked over at Ludwig. He smiled a little at his Russian and American friends. I crossed my arms and felt a frown form on my face. I still couldn't understand how two people who were once best friends could pretend they didn't know each other.

That was Ludwig and I.

All through elementary school, Ludwig and I were the bestest of friends. And when I say the best of friends, I mean it. We knew everything about each other, and we did everything together. At that time of my life he was someone that I was so used to being in my life, like a big brother. And I swear I thought we were happy. Then high school had to come around and ruin everything.

Ludwig was hot, there was no doubt about that. He was an extremely intelligent, he was rich and he was so good at sports too. It didn't take him longer than a day to get his new, popular, materialistic, rich friends.

It was our first day of high school and Ludwig had already joined the elite group of our school. They didn't have a group name or anything but there was a common trait that all their members had. They were rich, gorgeous, popular, materialistic, snobby, dramatic and absolutely, horribly judgmental.

Clearly, I was different and could never fit in with that type of crowd. My auburn hair with curl on the left side and amber eyes, I could never really be that handsome. I had a somewhat small face and skinny body. When it came to money, my grandfather was a manager of small pasta shop. We were a middle-class family who lived in a regular sized house.

That's why there was no way I could fit into Ludwig's kind of life. I think the worst part of all of this was that I always had a tiny crush on him. From the time that we met. He was, after all, my first love. I guess you can never really get over that.

Honestly though, as the years passed, I've grown. I personally think I'm better looking than I was in elementary school. Or maybe it's because my grandpa likes to tell me that I'm cute. I guess that doesn't count. But either way, I've grown to accept that I'm not Mister Popular Handsome and I'm happy with that. I've also grown to accept that Ludwig is a jerk who left me for popularity.

I sighed. It's not like I should blame myself. I mean, I never did anything wrong right?

I secretly looked at Ludwig again and my heart started to ache a little. I sighed again and looked down at my hands. I then shook my head.

" _Ve... no, I won't' be upset. I've grown."_

There's no reason for why I should ever be upset. I've got one year of high school left and then Ludwig will just be a part of my past.

"Oh, Ludwig and Feliciano. I need you two to sit together." Mr. Bonnefoy said.

Both of our heads shot up.

"What!?" We both asked together.

"Everyone else had picked partners to start the assignment. You two have no partners, so you two need to be partners." Mr. Bonnefoy continued.

We both looked at each other.

"Ludwig, get up. Don't keep little Feliciano waiting" Mr. Bonnefoy said.

Students started to chuckle and Ludwig was blushing as he stood up and walked over to me. He then pulled out the chair from the empty desk beside me and sat down. I felt my heart start to beat a little too quickly. This was the closest he has sat to me since elementary school.

"Alright, the assignment isn't going to be a simple assignment, so pay attention." Mr. Bonnefoy started.

He took out a huge pile of papers and started handling it out as he continued to speak.

"On this sheet, there are a bunch of questions on it. I will assign each pair a number and that is the question you will work on."

When we got our sheets, I immediately pulled out my Anthropology binder and put it in.

"Since the semester has just started, the questions are simply introductory questions to help all of you get an understanding of various aspects of anthropology. If you flip to page two, you will see the list of the questions. Examples include what is ecological anthropology? What is applied anthropology? And, what is legal anthropology?"

I nodded my head. Seemed simple enough.

"All you need to do is create a ten minute presentation explaining the topic that you need to discuss. The only reason why this may not be simple is because all of you have probably not taken this course before. So this is all new to you." He said.

"If you have any questions or you need any help at all, please feel free to come and ask me. But other than that, I will give you today in class to get started. But after that, you all need to work on it yourselves and it is due next Wednesday."

After that, Mr. Bonnefoy went around, giving us our numbers, and when he came to us, he said ten. I looked down at the paper when he left and smiled.

"Gott, we got Anthropology of religion." I looked up at Ludwig, who was looking away.

I took a deep breath, working up the courage to speak him again.

"Hey, Luddy!" I said.

"Yeah, sorry?" He looked at me.

I looked at him carefully. He hadn't changed much at all. His eyes were a gorgeous sky blue and he had blond hair that always slicked back. Today, he was wearing his reading glasses which give him a matured look that makes him look even extra hot.

"Uhmm... what did you say?" He smiled awkwardly.

Oh yeah, and he had the cutest smile a guy could have. I looked back at the paper and swallowed hard, feeling my cheeks start to heat up.

"Ve~ I said, cool. We're doing the Anthropology of Religion." I said.

He nodded his head and moved his chair closer to me.

"Yeah, I guess that's... cool." Ludwig said.

"So what type of presentation do you want to do?" I asked as I tried my best to avoid his eyes as much as possible.

"You always loved making huge posters." He shrugged.

I felt my heart skip a beat. I was more than a little surprised to hear that he remembered that.

"D-do you wanna do a poster?" I asked.

"I guess so. I can do all the research related stuff and you can do the art related stuff. Of course... I'll help a bit." He said.

I couldn't help myself from chuckling. That's exactly what we always did when we worked together.

"Ve~ Alright deal!" I smiled.

And then we spent the rest of the class working on the assignment. It wasn't like old times but honestly... it was good enough for me. I guess I was wrong about today being a very bad day.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: Kiku and Lovino**

I typed a couple more words into my first history essay of twelfth grade.

"World War 1 once said to be the war to end all wars, however World War 2 still happened." I said.

I then turned in my office chair.

"Ve.. does that sound cheesy?" I asked.

"You're going to get an A plus no matter what, Feliciano-kun." My Japanese close friend Kiku nodded his head.

I grinned at him. Essay writing is my favorite thing as well.

"Okay, can we please discuss something more important?" Kiku said, carefully putting down his book into my bedroom floor, in front of the spot where he was sitting, and looking at me.

"Ve?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"You told me this afternoon that you were working on a project with Ludwig-san." He said.

I turned around into my desk, looking at my laptop and ignoring the sudden, uncomfortable stare of Kiku.

"I think you and Ludwig-san should make up and become friends again." Kiku said.

"It's impossible." I said.

"Why? You don't want to be his friend anymore?" Kiku said.

"N-no... I mean—" I said.

"Then, you two need to become friends again." Kiku said.

"Okay..." I smiled.

"Ludwig Beilschmidt, he's like the King of the school." I sighed dreamily.

I turn around in my chair again and kept my smile on my face and saw Kiku reading his book. Kiku was like my guardian angel. He was kinda small and cute, with his black hair and brown eyes. But sometimes, he was unbelievably scary to some students because of his tough, smart-ass attitude and his lack of fear for anything.

He's been asked out a ton of times by popular and rich students like Alfred, Arthur and Heracles because well, Kiku is very clever and cute. But his genuine disgust for materialistic snobs was what made him like me rather than one of them. Though, he was scary and very serious, he was one of the most good-hearted people I knew.

Kiku was one of my friends since elementary school but we had never really been close until my first year in high school. When Kiku saw me sitting down in front of my locker in the second week of school, miserable and lonely, he approached me with the biggest smile I have ever seen on him and made me happy again. I will never forget that. Kiku was the only person in our school who knew what Ludwig and I once were and he get mad when Ludwig chose popularity over me.

He was the one friend in my life that I knew I could depend on. Someone who has gone out of his way to do so many things for me. If anything was wrong in my life, he was first to be up in the face of whoever made it wrong. And right now, Ludwig was what was wrong.

"If you're not comfortable, you could have asked Bonnefoy-sensei to get another partner." Kiku said.

"That's okay. I'm not going to ask Mr. Francis to switch." I smiled.

"Because you have a soft spot for him?" Kiku asked with a smile.

"Ve? N-no...!" I blushed.

"I'm just not going to bring what happened back up... we're just two kids in the same class right now and we were forced to be partners. It happens to people all the time." I said, looking at him.

Kiku closed his book and sat up. "Well, let me tell you this now. If Ludwig-san does anything to hurt you again. I swear, I will force him to read my yaoi manga."

"Ve~ I'll be fine. It's just a project." I smiled at him.

"Alright, I guess I'll be off." Kiku said.

I walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek which made Kiku blush like a little boy.

"Ve~ Take care, Kiku." I smiled.

"Call me if anything." Kiku said.

I smiled widely and felt happiness I always felt when I remembered how awesome of a friend Kiku was.

"Ve~ I will!" I saluted.

Kiku picked his bag and walking to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised by my big brother.

"Oh, konnichiwa, Lovino-san." Kiku said.

"Ciao, Kiku." my brother said.

Kiku bowed at Lovino before walking past him and leaving. I looked at my big brother and said, "What's up?"

"Don't hate me for eavesdropping but—" He said and walking to my room.

"Ve?" I frowned.

"Kiku's right. You should have told your bastard teacher—"

"Brother, relax. I'm fine. Like I said before, Ludwig's just another kid." I said.

Lovino pressed his lips into a thin line and leaned against my wall, watching me carefully. He was my 26 year old brother. Though he had moved out and had a lovely apartment of his own in downtown, he would often come and hang out here with me. Mostly because I was alone with our grandfather.

Actually, my parents were still alive. Ever since they had their divorce, trying to find their own life, Lovino had developed a very large sensitive spot for me because he knew how much their divorced ripped me apart. So my big brother was often at home to keep me company and the only time he really left for a while was when our mother will temporary stay in the house. Lovino was a great brother and I trusted him with all my secrets ever since I was a kid but my old crush on Ludwig wasn't just a secret to him.

My big brother was dating Ludwig's Spanish cousin. They've been dating for the past eleven years actually and that's how Ludwig and I even met. It was because of my brother and his cousin. So ever since the whole Ludwig issue started, Lovino has always thought it was his entire fault.

"You know, I could tell that tomato bast—"

"No, brother, you will not." I said as I turned back around and tried to focus on my essay.

Lovino walked over to me and then messed up my hair with his hand. I slowly pushed it aside and gave him a happy looked, when he saw me smiling, he couldn't stop himself from smiling too. He gave me a pat on the back before turning around and walking off.

"Oh... you idiota." He said, stopping and looking at me.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning around.

"If anything happens, tell me, okay?" He said and I nodded.

Then his eyes drifted to the pictures I had on my desk but he blinked and turned around, making an angry face, leaving the room. I turned around in my chair and looked at the pictures he was looking at. It's a picture of Ludwig hugging me when we were ten and right next to it was a picture of Ludwig and I at our grade eight graduation.

I leaned back in my seat and sighed. When I first realized that Ludwig was ignoring and avoiding me, I was ready to throw these out the window but when I tried, I didn't have the heart to.

I turned around in my chair and looked around. Almost everything in my bedroom had a little bit of Ludwig in it. It was actually weird when I thought about it. This room was literally my childhood and beyond and that's why my bedroom had a little bit of Ludwig because he was pretty much my childhood.

"People change. I changed, and Ludwig changed too." I sighed.

The next morning, I made sure that my alarm was set and the new back up batteries were put in. So when I woke up, I took my regular shower and then stared at myself in the mirror for a short while. Then, I brushed my hair quickly and pick up my bag and heading to the kitchen. When I got there, I saw grandpa Roma looking through his backpack.

"Buongiorno~" He looked up at me and smiled.

"Buongiorno, nonno~" I smiled.

My grandfather was a handsome Italian man, and often, people could tell that he and Lovino were look alike although they were total opposites.

"Ready?" He turned and smiled.

"Yeah, but where's fratello?" I asked.

"I'm assuming he's still in bed." Grandpa said as he put his backpack over his shoulders.

And soon I was out the door, following behind my grandfather. He dropped me off at school and I was comfortably 30 minutes early. That's what I liked, so I relaxed for a bit and waited for my friend to get here.

Kiku sat down beside me and examined me from head to toe.

"You're looking blooming today, Feliciano-kun." Kiku smiled.

"Really?" I felt my face brighten up.

"Hai, Feliciano-kun. So, what's on your mind?" Kiku asked, still watching me.

"Ve... I'm a little nervous." I smiled and looked at my feet.

"Why?" Kiku frowned.

"Well, Mr. Francis isn't giving us time in class to work on the project, so I have to go ask Ludwig when we're working on it." I said.

"Don't be nervous." Kiku said.

We kept talking until the bell rang. When classes started though, something really strange happened. Mr. Francis Bonnefoy called me up before he started his lesson. When I walked over to his desk, he smiled at me.

"Feliciano, are you comfortable working with Ludwig?" He asked.

My eyebrows shot up. How did he know about us?

"Ve... yeah... why?" I said.

He looked at Ludwig and then at me.

"Well, I was thinking about it last night and I feel like I may have forced you to work with him. I've had the both of you in my classed before and I noticed that you two are polar opposites but well, I guess I was a little worried about whether or not he'll work well with you or you'll work well with him." He said.

"Ve~ Thanks for worrying sir, but really, I'm fine. He's doing his part and I'm doing mine." I smiled.

Mr. Francis nodded his head, looking a little relived.

"Ohonhonhon, alright, great~" He chuckled.

"But if anything, please don't worry about coming and telling me." He smiled.

"Thank you~" I smiled too.

He nodded his head again and I walked back to my seat but then I remembered I had to talk to Ludwig about when we were meeting up. So I took a deep breath, let it out and stood up, walking over to him and his friends.

"L-Ludwig?" I called as I approached him.

He turned around immediately. He looked as good as he always did but today he's not wearing his reading glasses but he's still handsome and hot.

"Yeah?" He said.

I ignored his rich friends who were raising their eyebrows at me, some even snorting.

"W-we didn't talk about when we were going to work on the project... since we aren't getting any class time to work on it." I said nervously.

"Oh yeah..." Ludwig leaned back in his seat.

He tapped his finger on the book and then looked back at me.

"Why don't we just work on it tonight?" He added.

My eyebrows rose but I tried to hide my shock.

"Ve... sure. Where?" I asked.

"I need to go home to walk the dogs, so how about we meet at my place?" He said.

"Uhmm... okay." I said, I was even more shocked now.

"See you then." He smiled.

I smiled back and turned around, walking back to my desk. When I sat back down, my other two friends sitting to the left and in front of me looked at me.

"You lucky Feli!" Feliks smiled, a Polish student who was sitting in front of me.

Tino, a Finnish student who was sitting to the left of me nodded.

"You get to spend the evening with Ludwig Beilschmidt!" Tino chuckled.

"You should be a little more excited Feli." Feliks said, kept his eyes on me and giggled.

I just smiled at them, then Mr. Francis told everyone to shut up and turn around because he was going to start today's lesson.

I had told Kiku about what was going on during our lunch break and he was seriously happy that I was going to Ludwig's house but a little worried that a visit there would bring back a crapload of memories. But honestly, he was the only one who was worried about that. I didn't really think that it was a bad idea. I mean, if anything were to happen, it would be that I'd see even more now that he's changed, and that would help me even more, right?

But Kiku and I didn't get a lot of time to talk about it because Feliks can show up anytime and anywhere. He was extremely bubbly and instantly had crushes on attractive girls or guys but honestly, Feliks was a cute, social and perky boy who loved to talk and gossip.

I had chosen not to tell to anyone about my old relationship with Ludwig especially like Feliks because he was a drama king. As much as I liked him, I knew he would make a big deal about it and that would mean the school would eventually find out about Ludwig and I. So whenever Kiku needed to advice me about Ludwig, we had to make sure that no one heard us.

When after school came, I just kept telling myself that it was another project and I was going to another students house to work on it. That's it.

But of course, life wasn't as simple as that.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3: Ludwig's house**

As I walked down the street in the direction of Ludwig's house, which I would obviously know, I took deep relaxing breaths. Even though it was starting to get very chilly out, it was still a lovely day. The sun was still out and the heat I felt on my face made my cold fingers feel a lot better.

Ludwig's house wasn't a long way from the school. Maybe a 20 minutes walk? But the only annoying thing was that it was in the elite part of town, since most member of Beilschmidt family were successful business people and this elite part of town was up on the top of a hill, so walking all the way there was going to be exhausting.

My town, was actually a very small city. I never paid attention in geography so I really didn't know what we would call it, so I just called it a town. It got its name because it's on higher ground and there's a beautiful park near the edge of the town where you can look off the cliff, down at the busy city next to us but what sucked about our town was that it was very divided.

The richer people like Beilschmidt lived on one side of town. The middle class people like my family lived on another side of town and a lot of the poorer people lived at another side. It was really the reason why we had so many divides in our school too. The rich people knew nothing about the poor people and vice versa and neither of them were willing to get to know the other. I guess that sad, but I was really one of the few people who believed that. Everyone else seemed okay with it.

I sighed loudly as I passed through the gates that showed the entrance into the elite territory. Here comes the climb, but suddenly I heard a car pull up next to me. When I turned my head, I saw a beautiful white BMW pull up next to me. I knew in an instant that it was Ludwig. He rolled down the passenger side window and looked out at me.

"You left!" He yelled.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I was looking everywhere for you. I meant that we were supposed to meet after school and I would give you a ride." He said.

"Oh." I hesitated.

"Come on." He said.

I felt my heart start to beat a little faster but I blinked a couple times, reminding myself that he was just another partner of mine and walked forward. I opened the passenger side door, took off my bag and got into his car. I quickly put on my seat belt and looked straight ahead, feeling so awkward it was unbelievable.

"Were you really going to walk all the way to my house?" He asked.

"Ve... I didn't think it would be that long." I said.

He shook his head as he picked up the speed. I was startled by the loud roaring of his car as it sped down the street filled with huge mansions and pretty yards.

"How are your parents?" Ludwig asked.

The topic of my parents made me uncomfortable. After all, it was during the time of their divorce that he had stopped talking to me. He wasn't there when I needed him most.

"Ve... good." I simply said and he nodded.

"And yours?" I asked, trying to be polite.

"Good. They're still never home, but good." He replied.

I smiled and nodded, getting more uncomfortable by the awkwardness of our conversation and my heart sank at the thought of the time when talking to him was so easy. From the corner of my eye, I saw him press his lips into a thin line. I played with my fingers as I bit the inside of my cheek. I hated to admit it but I was really hoping that right now, he was regretting what had happened to us.

"Alright, we're here." Ludwig said, breaking the awkward silence as he pulled up into his empty driveway that was big enough to fit sixteen cars in a four by four formation.

He parked his car right in the middle of it and got out. I followed. His house was very familiar to me, and even though it was huge, I almost knew it as well as he did. After all, a lot of my childhood was spent here.

It was lovely too. His front yard itself was the size of my whole house, and it was kept well by his cousin who loved gardening. It had a small pond with ducks and lilies, beautiful bushes and a couple trees and four sets of benches scattered around. My favorite part was the swing next to the pond. Ludwig and I used to fall asleep on that swing while we watched the stars. Stargazing was something we both loved to do when we were kids. But I'm just getting started. If the garden is that lovely, you can only imagine how lovely the inside of Ludwig's house was.

Ludwig led me up his cobblestone driveway and to his huge porch that was the size of my average living room. He put his keys into the lock of the pearly white double door that was normal in width, but was two time my height in length. I always wondered why someone needed doors that were this big.

When he opened the door, he walked in, not taking off his shoes. I however, took off my shoes and put them up on the rack next to some other shoes. Grandpa always told me that it was rude to walk into other people's homes with your shoes on.

"I guess Antonio took the dogs out." Ludwig said as he looked around then he turned to me.

"You remember Aster and Berlitz?" He asked.

I nodded, remembering the golden retriever and german shepherd who were just a puppies when I last saw them. Ludwig watched me for a second, probably waiting for me to say something else but when I didn't, he started walking.

I took a deep breath and looked around, it's been almost four years since I've been here and it still looked pretty much the same. I followed Ludwig down the hallway and up the huge staircase that led to the second level but as I followed him, I was secretly looking their family picture frames hanging on the wall.

I froze when I saw one particular picture. It was a picture of Gilbert. I swallowed hard as I stared at how cool, awesome and handsome he is. Of course, Ludwig's older brother was naturally handsome. He was tall, not like Ludwig and had short light-colored hair and red-violet eyes. When Ludwig noticed I wasn't following him anymore, he stopped and turned around.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, walking back down the stairs.

"Ve... nothing." I said, turning to face him.

But when he reached me, he looked out at where I was looking and smiled.

"Do you miss him?" He asked.

"Yes, I miss him." I said softly.

"Me too. He's now a precious angel in heaven, he's happy now." Ludwig smiled.

Gilbert passed away from cancer two years ago. He was a tough guy and was also brave. It was one of the reasons for why I adored him so much. He's like a big brother to me.

"You're right." I smiled back

"Let's go." He said and I nodded.

He then led me down through the second living room they had on the second floor and then past his old bedroom and to one of the spare rooms. When Ludwig opened it up, I pulled out my roll white bristle board from my backpack and put it on the desk. I smiled and watched Ludwig as he pulled out two stools and gave me one before sitting down next to me.

"Since, we're doing the Anthropology of Religion, maybe we should have a bunch or religious figures on the bristle board—like, around it?" Ludwig started, he used his hand to show where he meant.

"Ve~ sounds good." I nodded.

He took his laptop and set it down on the table.

"So last night, I did some of the research and typed out all the points that we can print out and stick onto the board." He said.

I nodded again and I bent over the bristle board, getting down to my drawing business while Ludwig watching me.

"Ve... wouldn't it be cool if it made it look like all the religious people were holding the points that we're going to glue on?" I asked, straightening myself up.

"Yeah, that's a great idea." He said.

I looked down at the board and asked, "How about we make each box with the points...uhmm...ten centimeters by ten centimeters?"

"Sure! I'll make sure I print it out properly." Ludwig answered.

"Great." I smiled.

For the rest of the afternoon, we worked together on the project and you won't believe how surprised I was that this was working out well.

It was around eight in the evening when I yawned and Ludwig looked up and said, "Tired already?"

"Ve... I guess." I smiled.

I stretched as I looked down at what I had gotten done so far. Ludwig looked over at the board and held back a gasp.

"How did you do that with markers?" He asked, noticing the hundreds of shades of Crayola markers that I had scattered around the table.

"Ve~ Same way you do it with paint or pencil crayons." I shrugged.

I had finished half of it and on that half was a drawing of Jesus, one of Shiva, and one of Buddha. All of them were given a good amount of space and behind each one was a background. All of this done with Crayola markers, in a couple of hours.

"You're kidding..." Ludwig said.

"Painting is easier... I think. But Markers dry faster and are better on the bristle board" I said.

"It looks amazing, Feliciano." He shook his head.

"T-thanks~" I blushed.

"Now let's go take a break." Ludwig stood up and walked over to the door.

I hesitated before I slipped off the stool and followed him out. He lead me down his kitchen which was the size of the second floor of my house and handed me a glass when we got there.

Ludwig opened up one of his three fridges and said, "We have coke, pepsi, sprite, orange juice, strawberry juice, apple—"

"Apple juice." I said.

"I knew it." He smiled.

For some reason, my heart skipped a beat. He pulled out the box of apple juice and poured me a full glass. After that, he put it away and poured himself some orange juice. He then put his glass aside and opened another fridge.

"Want some frozen pizza?" He asked.

"Uhmm...s-sure." I said, realizing how empty my stomach was only when he asked.

"Great. It's gonna to take fifteen minutes." He said as he pulled out the huge box, opened it up and placed it on a pan and put it in the oven.

"Ve... okay." I said as I sipped some of the apple juice.

Ludwig looked at me and leaned against the counter.

"We're almost done, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've just got to find one more thing to write about. I can print it out later." He replied.

"Then, maybe if I bring the board tomorrow to school we can stick it on?" I said.

"Why not just come back here?" He shrugged.

I hesitated, wondering if it's a good idea to come back here again but then I nodded. Today went really well, tomorrow should too.

"Ve... okay." I said.

"What time do you need to leave?" Ludwig asked.

"I didn't tell grandpa I was out. So maybe I should leave around nine?" I said.

"I can drop you off at home." He nodded.

"No, it's fine. I know how to take the bus from here." I said.

"Take the bus this late in the evening? It's fine. I'll drop you off." He snorted.

I took a breath and let it out. "Alright. Thanks."

We didn't talk much after that, we just watched some football games and ate the pizza. Then, we worked on the project a little bit longer before Ludwig dropped me off at home. And like before, it was one, awkward drive but I went to sleep that night feeling strangely happy.

Maybe this meant Ludwig and I could be friends again, but then again, knowing what happened to us before — he may just stop talking to me again when this whole project is over. Before I fell asleep, I made sure that my brain and heart understood that I shouldn't raise my hopes up too high.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4: Ludwig's grandfather and grandpa Roma**

I closed my locker and smiled as Kiku walked up to me, it was lunch now and I hated when I didn't get a chance to see him in the morning.

"Konnichiwa, Feliciano-kun." Kiku smiled.

"Ciao, Kiku!" I smiled back.

Kiku turned the dial of his lock and said, "So, how was working with Ludwig-san last night?"

"Ve~ Good! Surprisingly." I said.

"Normal?" He looked at me.

"Well, normal as in... two partners working on a project." I nodded.

"Oh, okay." Kiku nodded too.

"The poster's actually going to look amazing because—" I said.

I stopped when my eyes fell on Ludwig who was walking over to me.

"Problem." He said as he approached me.

Kiku looked at him with an eyebrow raised while Ludwig tried to give him a casual smile but Kiku just bowed and turned back to his locker.

"Ve? What's wrong?" I asked, pretending not to notice the little drama.

Ludwig who was giving Kiku a confused look, looked at me, "There's a football game tonight."

"So?" I said, raising both my eyebrows because I couldn't physically just raise one.

"So, we have to finish quickly so I can watch the game." Ludwig sighed, almost sounding annoyed.

There was definitely something different with his tone. It didn't seem as kind as it was yesterday, maybe it was because people were watching.

Oh Dio. King Ludwig Beilschmidt is talking to the commoner Feliciano what's-his-face. Big deal. Just give it a rest.

Though the thought upset me, I just nodded. "Ve... sure."

"Oh and give me your number." Ludwig ordered.

"O-okay..." I said.

"Hey!"

I turned my head and saw Ludwig's Russian friend walk over to him.

Ivan Braginsky, Terror King of Hetalia High. He had everything, that means he's good looking too with his slightly wavy pale ashen blond hair and violet eyes. He had the money, was probably even richer than Ludwig actually. And I think most students were afraid of him. Ludwig then walked off without even saying goodbye.

Kiku slammed his locker shut and said, "He is a different person now."

I shrugged as I turned around, but then I wished I didn't. I saw Ivan looking at me strangely. Almost angrily.

Turning my head, I looked at Kiku and said. "I hate Drama Kings."

Kiku nodded his head as he started to walk towards the cafeteria.

"Me too." He agreed.

That afternoon, I closed my locker after packing my bag and was startled by my cellphone ringing. When I unlocked my phone, I read the message.

 _Hey, it's Ludwig._

 _Meet me outside the school._

I texted back 'Okay.'

When I stood outside the school building, I heard Ludwig's voice from my right side.

"Ready?" He asked.

I nodded and followed him to his car. When we got to his house, we got straight to work and actually finished the board before Ludwig's football game. After cleaning up, Ludwig told me he was going to get something to eat.

"Ve... I don't need anything. You can drop me off at home and then you can get back before your football game." I said to him, knowing that if I said I'll take the bus, he'd argue with me.

"I'm going out get hamburgers." He said as he walked towards his old bedroom.

"Let me get you a burger then I'll drop you off at home." He added.

"But you'll be late for your football game." I hesitated. Why was he being so nice now?

"Don't worry about it. You can wait in here I guess." Ludwig smiled as he opened his bedroom door.

"Ve? You're not taking me with you?" I gasped.

Ludwig shook his head and said, "I'll be back in ten minutes. Then, we'll eat some burgers and I'll drop you off."

I opened my mouth to argue but Ludwig left his bedroom door open and started walking down the staircase without me.

"I have a Wii in my room, you can turn it on and play Super Smash Brothers if you want." He said as he disappeared down into his home.

I hesitated, trying to hide the smile that was already forming because he remembered one of my favourite video game but then I walked into his room.

Ludwig's room was huge. It was the four times the size of my bedroom and that was only half of it. There was a door that led to the part of the room that had a bed, and another that led to his washroom. The room I was standing in was—I guess his lobby. He had a huge flat screen TV on the wall across from where the entrance was with two huge speakers on either side of it. He had a multiple bookshelves next to the door that led to his bedroom, he's an avid reader and that was about it for this room.

I walked towards his bedroom which had its door wide open and gasped. It was totally different from what I had last seen and it looked so lively compared to the rest of his house. I looked around his room without actually stepping into it. I was so tempted to step inside to see if he still had any of the things I made him or gave him years ago but I felt that it's be a violation of his privacy and if he caught me searching his room, he'd probably get upset. So instead, I closed the door and walked over to his sofa and sat down. I picked up the Wii remote, turned on his Wii and got up again to search the shelf that was next to the TV for a game to play when I heard him walk back into his room. I could smell the McDonalds burgers and it made my stomach grumble.

"Back. Let's go downstairs and eat." Ludwig said.

"Ve... sure." I nodded my head as I turned off the Wii and then followed him back down the stairs.

He took me to his home theater and placed our bags on the small table in front of the couch. When I saw the bag that was most likely mine, I couldn't hold back my chuckle.

"Ve? A Happy Meal?" I said.

Ludwig who was looking down at the remote and turning on his TV that was the size of the wall itself, looked at me.

"I thought you liked that." He blushed.

"Ve~ I do." I said as I sat down on the couch, opening up the bag, "I'm just surprised you remembered." I added.

"People used to make fun of you for that." Ludwig smiled.

"Yeah, and you used to defend me." I blushed.

"Yeah, I remember. Any movie you wanna watch?" He asked as he walked over to one of the two shelves in the room, covered with DVD's and Blu-ray's.

I looked at him, taking a bite out of a couple fried, "I thought you had a football game to watch?" I asked, covering my mouth cause it was full of food.

"Don't feel like watching it anymore." Ludwig shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes at him and watched as he pulled out some DVD when we heard calling Ludwig's name. Then, we both turned around, Ludwig's grandfather stood there.

He's handsome with sky blue eyes like the ones that Ludwig had. He was tall with long blond hair that was as straight as straight could be. He's the same age as my grandpa Roma. I never spoke with him much, even when we were kids so he was always the mysterious grandfather of Ludwig in my eyes and for some strange reason, when his grandfather's eyes fell on me, he gave me a serious look.

"Feliciano." He said.

"Ciao, Mr. Germania. It's been a while." I smiled.

( **note: I don't know Germania's human name so I used his country name instead** )

He didn't smile, I never saw him smiling so that's okay, he said, "I thought you two weren't friends anymore."

"Grandpa." Ludwig said, in an annoyed voice. He turned around to face the shelves.

"Well, what do you expect me to think, Ludwig?" He asked.

Ludwig ignored him and his grandfather shook his head and walked off without even saying bye. I turned back around to face the TV and frowned then, heard his shoes tapping against the tiled floor as he walked back, "Feliciano... it's very late, should you not be going home?"

I turned and looked at him, "Ve... yeah, I guess."

"You don't want to make your parents and grandfather wait." He said.

Ludwig turned around and looked at his grandfather, giving him an angry look.

"I remember your father would always be waiting for you, am I right?" Mr. Germania looked confused.

"Well... my mother and father doesn't live with us anymore." I said.

"Ah... that's right. They're divorced." Mr. Germania said.

"Are they doing okay? It's so sad to think they aren't together anymore and left their two sons to Romulus alone. I remember that your father loved your mother a lot, did he not?" Mr. Germania asked, almost kindly.

I opened my mouth to agree, feeling my heart sink because of the topic in general but I was startled by Ludwig's hand taking mine.

"You don't need to answer that." Ludwig said before he turned to his grandfather.

"Grandpa, you're ridiculous." Ludwig hissed before he walked off towards the exit, dragging me behind him.

"I was just asking." Mr. Germania said.

But before I could say bye to be polite, Ludwig had shut the door to the theater room and walked me to where my shoes were.

"Ve... that wasn't very nice..." I said.

"Grandpa can be really upfront sometimes and I've heard you don't like talking about it, so that's why I was being like that." Ludwig said, looking at me.

"Ve.. okay." I simply said, shrugging it off. He was right about one thing, I didn't like to talk about it.

Ludwig opened the door and walked out to his car, it beeped when he pressed the button on his little remote as he walked over to the driver's side. I followed him and got into the passenger side. We were quiet for most of the ride and I could tell that he didn't like this awkwardness almost as much as I didn't, so he spoke first.

"You don't like talking about it, right?" He asked.

"If by _it_ you mean my parents, then yeah. I don't like talking about it." I said, looking out the window.

I saw him nod his head as he pressed his lips into a thin line and then we were silent. When he pulled into my driveway, I opened the door and stepped out.

"Ve~ Thanks again." I said as I went to close the door.

"Hold on." He said, leaning over so that he could see me.

"Yeah?" I looked into the car.

He looked at me for a moment but then shook his head.

"Never mind." He said before rolling up his window and reversing out of my parking. He didn't even say bye.

* * *

I sat in the library with Kiku and Feliks. Our library was probably the best high school library out there. Funded by the rich parents of the more studious students. Hetalia High School wasn't a private school or anything like that, but it was the next best thing that our town had to offer, since it didn't have a private school. It had the best principle, best teachers and best facilities.

Facilities which included this library, five computer labs, a mechanical shop, a sewing room, four large gymnasiums with all the equipment you could possibly think of, a new and renovated art room and much, much more. This was mostly because most, if not all, of the rich kids in our town came here and that was why we had such a large population of popular kids, but I guess the rich popular students are good for some reasons. Their richness means I get an awesome library to study in.

"So how's your project going?" Feliks looked at me over my laptop.

"Good, I guess." I said, keeping my eyes on the laptop.

"Is it true that Ludwig's got a pool in his backyard?" Feliks asked.

"Yes." I said, but this was something I knew since I was a kid.

"I think all the rich kids have pools in their backyards, Feliks-kun." Kiku said.

I chuckled as I looked down at my laptop screen.

"Oh! I can't believe I forgot to mention this!" Feliks exclaimed, making the librarians glare at him.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

The first thing I thought he was going to say was that he had a girlfriend or boyfriend.

"You will not believe what I heard." He grinned.

"What?" I asked again, a little bit disappointed but trying not to be rude and pretending that I did care about what gossip he had to share.

Feliks looked at Kiku first then leaned forward in his chair.

"You know how Alfred F. Jones was dating Ludwig like... 2 months?" Feliks said.

I leaned back in my chair, feeling my smile slowly fade as I picked up my pencil and started drawing cat on the table, "Ve? Really? It's impossible..."

"Well, apparently, Alfred was actually super serious about Ludwig... like, rumor has it that Ludwig went out and bought a brand new BMW a few hours before Alfred broke up with him because that American boy was complaining about his old one and how it wasn't comfortable." Feliks said.

"Is that true?" Kiku asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Maybe?" Feliks answered.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Kiku watching me. I let out a small laugh and continued to draw cat on the table.

"Feliks!"

I heard someone call. It sounded like a hiss cause they were trying to whisper and even though Eduard was calling Feliks, we all looked up.

"Come here for a second." Eduard said, an Estonian student.

Feliks looked at us and shrugged before getting up and rushing off.

I looked at Kiku and said, "Ve... I don't think Ludwig will do that."

"Me too. Well, that's just a rumor. I heard that Alfred-san has been trying to get back with Arthur-san last year." Kiku said.

"Ohh..." I smiled at him.

Feliks came back and sat down in front of us. He opened his mouth to say something again but Kiku spoke first.

"You know Feliks-kun, I've been hearing a lot about Alfred-san today. Why has he resurfaced?" He said.

"God Kiku, you are so bad at keeping up to date, and it's not about that stupid American boy okay?" Feliks's eyes widened, Kiku looked at me and I shrugged.

"Arthur is back!" Feliks said, and I gave him a look that showed I understood.

You see, Arthur Kirkland, the Prince of Hetalia High, he was probably the richest student in the school because he's not only had his parent's money but he was already working as a professional chef. Because of his job, he was barely ever at school, especially now that we were in the twelfth grade. Students say that he's still enrolled as a student but gets home schooled when he's gone and even though he's always gone, he still manages to get amazing grades. If he were ever to write a test, Arthur would ways get one of the highest marks.

Suddenly, there was some soft squealing.

When I looked up, I saw Feliks snort, "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!"

A lot of the girls in the room raised their heads, some even got up to try and get a glance at Arthur who was walking past the library and was visible through the glass wall of the library which had a hallway on the other side but by the time I raised my head, he had his back towards me and was walking away.

Arthur looked so normal though, he has messy short blond hair and green eyes. Unlike most of the popular boys, he had an ordinary black Jansport bag on his shoulders instead of expensive backpack.

Ludwig, Alfred, Ivan and another rich students were walking in the opposite direction towards Arthur. My eyebrows rose and I heard people in the library gasp like this was some sort of show. They kept walking, without slowing down. When both of them disappeared through the doors, chatter broke out in the library. Students were gossiping like no tomorrow. I closed my eyes and smiled when the librarians shushed everyone and threatened to kick students out.

When I got home that evening, I closed the door and heard Lovino call for me.

"You idiota, today is nonno's day off and he's been waiting and missing you like fucking crazy!" He said.

"Ve! I know, I have to apologize. I've just been busy..." I said.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what all the damn kids say these says. I'll see you tomorrow then." He said, opening the door and got out.

I then turned around and went up stairs. When I knocked on grandpa's bedroom door, he answered it almost instantly.

"Feli!" He smiled.

I heard his comforting, deep voice call. I jumped into his arms and gave him a tight hug as usual, letting my backpack fall onto the floor. Grandpa Roma hugged me back and spun me around.

"Are you so busy that you can't even come home early for family bonding?" He frowned.

"Ve~ I'm sorry." I chuckled as I let go of him and bent down to pick up my bag.

When I looked back at him, he was smiling. He's the most kindest and loving grandfather in my life. Everyone says that just from the way grandpa looks at me and Lovino, they could see how much we mean to him and I believed that. It wasn't like he spoiled us or anything. No. I mean, we weren't rich but grandpa Roma gave us all the love he could possibly give us since we were born. He always spent time with us whenever he could, he'd tuck us into bed and tell us stories. He'd play with us and take us anywhere we wanted to go and he taught us so much of what we know right now.

I looked at my grandfather and smiled some more.

"Why are you just standing there? Come on, let's go to the kitchen." He said.

I walked into the living room and slumped down into the couch that was across from the TV and turned my head and watched grandpa walked into kitchen which had a huge window so that you could see into it from the living room.

"I've got delicious pasta. Do you want to eat it now or later?" He asked.

"Ve... I think I'll eat a little later." I answered and he nodded.

He walked over to me and sat down next to me, holding two cups of coffee.

"So, how's school treating you?" He asked as he handed me a cup and then put an arm over my shoulder.

"Good, I guess." I shrugged and crossed my legs onto the couch.

"Oh~ You underestimate my capabilities of being your grandfather. What's wrong?" He chuckled.

"Ve... nothing. There's just not much to talk about when it comes to school." I looked at him.

"I know you better than that, Feli." He said, sipping some of his coffee, "What's the crazy thing that happened to you this week?" He added.

"You remember Ludwig?" I looked down into my cup and then at my grandpa.

My grandfather who was in the middle of sipping his coffee, raised hi eyebrows.

"Of course." He said after swallowing, "What's up with him? Has he decided to speak with you again?"

"My anthropology teacher paired us up together for a project." I said.

"And how's that going?" He nodded his head.

"Good, I guess...but the thing is... I feel like he's being nice and all when we're alone at his place. But when we're at school and stuff he acts a bit different. I mean, he's not like, and outright jerk or anything, but he acts weird." I said.

"I see." He nodded his head again.

He sipped his coffee again and then took his hand off of me and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.

"You want me to tell you what I think?" He said.

I nodded my head, my grandfather always gave some pretty good advice.

"If Ludwig really is afraid to be nice to you around his friends because that'll make him look bad for something...finish this project and don't speak to him ever again." He said.

"Okay..." My eyebrows rose.

"Because if he's not willing to be with you in public then he shouldn't get the privilege of being with you at all."

I nodded with a smile. _Privilege._ For some reason, I liked that.

"But, that's only if he's actually ignoring you, Feli. Don't just assume that kind of stuff." He said.

I pressed my lips into a thin line.

"There may be a whole other ton of reasons for why he's acting that way and before you assume anything, you get him alone and talk to him. Ask him what his problem is." He said.

"It's impossible to get Ludwig alone at school." I chuckled.

My grandfather smiled, "I'm sure you can do it. But really...sometimes boys like us are reckless and do stupid things because they think what they're doing is right when in reality, they're hurting other people."

I nodded, feeling a lot better for some reason.

"So talk to him, and let me know what happens."

"Grazie, nonno!"

That was exactly what I was going to do, maybe not today, or tomorrow or any time soon, but I will do it.

"Just don't take it seriously." Grandpa said, leaning over and kissing my forehead, "You have more important things to deal with."

He was right.

"Have you started thinking of college or university applications?" He asked.

I nodded my head right away, sitting up straight and getting a little excited, "Ve~ I think I've decided on the Venezia University because it has the best paramedics program in the country!"

"Still thinking Paramedic not being a cool artist?" He asked.

I nodded eagerly, "Yeah, I want to help people."

"That's mio nipote." Grandpa said.

I felt my cheeks heat up a bit.

"But it's out of the city. You thinking of living down there?" He asked.

"Well, it's an option...but if money is an issue then I don't have to. I can catch a train there and back no problems." I replied.

Grandpa placed his hand on my head and messed up my hair a bit.

"Don't you be worrying about money. Your mama, papa and I will handle that. You just do whatever you want and we'll handle the rest." He said with a smile.

"Ve~ Grazie!" I smiled at him.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5: Gift from Ludwig**

I looked down at the invitation that Feliks was holding and laughed.

"Ve... this happens every year, Feliks. And you know my our response to this." I said.

"Please Feliciano, pretty please!?" Feliks gave me his puppy eyes.

I sighed, knowing that I couldn't say no without Kiku here and then I realized that Feliks must have planned this. He got me alone and then attacked.

Feliks Lukasiewicz's birthday was today, and like every year, he was throwing a huge party. This meant a lot of the popular students in our school were invited. Which meant drama central.

From the year we met him, which was of course, the ninth grade, we avoided Feliks's parties like the plague. But, just to make up for the fact that we didn't go to his birthday party, Kiku and I would throw him a private party, all expenses covered by us. This was how we rolled for the past three years, and Feliks was fine with that. So I was a little surprised he was asking me to come.

"C'mon Feliks, Kiku and I will throw you another party, you know that—"

"I invited Ludwig Beilschmidt and he said he'd come." He said and I froze.

"You've worked with him before so if you come maybe you can get him to talk more to me?" He added.

I chuckled and shook my head, "Feliks... we're not that close. We literally just worked on the project—"

"Please Feliciano!" He begged, "I know you're lying to me about not being his friend! I mean, he only agreed to come after I said you'll be there!"

"What!?" I asked, shocked.

"I swear! That's why I'm begging you to come!" He said.

I looked away, not really sure what to do anymore. The thought that he was coming for me made me a bit happy but for all I knew, it probably meant nothing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Feliks giggled happily.

I raised my eyebrows, "Ve... I didn't say—"

Feliks shoved the invitation into my hands, "The party is tonight!"

"Why are you giving this to me so late?" I asked.

Feliks winked at me, "So I don't give you lots of time to change your mind." He said before he turned around and walked off.

I rolled my eyes but looked down at the invitation. It was in a pretty baby blue envelope and had my name written on it in cursive. When I opened the envelope and pulled out the card, my eyes widened.

It was a professionally done invitation and the dress code was formal.

I groaned to myself as I turned around and went to open my locker so I could hurry my butt home and get ready.

When I got home, I was pleased to see that my brother was just leaving, "Lovi, are you busy?" I asked.

"Not really. You need something, you idiota?" He shrugged.

"I need you to drop me off at Feliks's party." I said.

"Huh? I thought you don't go to his fucking parties?" He groaned.

"He begged me, and I'm supposed to dress formally!" I said, making my way up the stairs.

"Where's that goddamn party?" Lovino yelled.

"Some banquet hall in Venezia." I threw the invitation at him.

Lovino followed me into my room as he read the invitation.

"Wow, his parties are... fucking serious. Is Kiku coming?" He asked.

"Kiku would die rather than coming to this." I shook my head.

"Weird Japanese." Lovino said.

"I'm not keeping you from something important, right?" I asked.

"Hmm, I was just going out with Antonio. That tomato bastard can wait." He shook his head.

"Ve? Are you sure?" I hesitated.

"Yeah, idiota. I'll text that bastard now." Lovino said, pulling out his phone.

I smiled at him before I turned around and opened my closet doors. I don't see any formal clothes but I pulled out my favorite common loose long sleeve shirt with drawstring front. Lovino and Antonio have a shirt like this as well. Then, I rushed into the bathroom to take a quick shower before I got ready.

After that, I walked out of the bathroom and into Lovino's room to model my shirt for him.

"Ve... it looks nice?" I asked.

Lovino who was lying down on his bed, speaking on the phone with someone gave me a thumbs up. I smiled at him and we walked down the stairs.

"It's going to take about thirty minutes to get there, taking the highway." Lovino said.

"I know." I said as I put on my shoes.

This hall was in the city after all but we actually got there in forty-three minutes because of the traffic, but it didn't matter.

When I walked in, I groaned. Not only was I still under-dressed after all my efforts, but there were a lot of properly dressed people here and more than half of them were the elite students from our school.

"Feliciano?"

I turned around when I heard the girl's voice. It was Czechia.

( **note: I don't know Czech's human name but I like her country name Czechia, it's cute.** )

Czechia is one of the pretty girl in my school. She admitted to having had a crush on me from time to time in the past but we're friends now. We did date, one time, in the tenth grade. She wasn't exactly popular back then and soon she joined the E Team. She looked a lot cuter than before, she had longish dark hair tied with a bun in the back. She was known around the school for being the good artist.

"Ciao, Czechia~" I smiled at her.

"Nice shirt." She smiled.

I chuckled, "Thanks~ Nice dress." I said, pointing at her pink dress.

"I saw Feliks shove the invitation in your face at school today." She said, that made me laughed.

"Is Kiku coming?" She asked.

"Ve~ nope. I wish." I chuckled.

"Alright then, how about you come sit with us if you've got no one else to sit with?" She said.

"Us?" My eyebrows rose.

"Me, Ludwig, Ivan, Lukas and Emil." She said.

I swallowed hard, "Ve... you know what, I think I'm gonna go say hi to Feliks and hang out with him."

"Oh sure, got it." Czechia hesitate but nodded.

I smiled awkwardly at her before I turned and rushed over to Feliks. When he saw me, his face brightened but then he frowned.

"Feliciano, if you needed a shirt, you could have called me." He said.

"You could have told me about this party a couple days ago rather than a couple hours ago." I said.

He gave me a look which said, "Fine, sorry." and I smiled.

"Okay," he said, grabbing my shoulders and turning me around, "go sit with Ludwig."

"No! I'm not going to sit with him!" I squeaked.

"Feliciano! If you go sit with him then I can come there and talk to him to! Do it for me!" Feliks said.

"This is one thing I won't do!" I hesitate.

"But he's looking at you!" He said and I froze.

Slowly, I turned my head and looked in the direction of where Ludwig's table was. He looked away when I looked at him.

"See? I think he expects you to come sit with him!" Feliks whispered into my ear.

I didn't say anything but I was suddenly startled by his shout, "Czechia!"

I turned myself to stop him but Czechia was next to us in an instant.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Let Feliciano here sit with you guys?" He asked her.

"That's what I told him." Czechia grinned.

Feliks smiled at her and I gasped when Czechia took my hand and pulled me over to their table. I could not believe this was happening. I seriously shouldn't have come here today.

Czechia sat me down next to her. Thankfully there was an empty seat on the other side of me, but across from me was Ivan, and next to him was Ludwig.

"You guys know Feliciano, right?" Czechia asked.

"Yeah. Weren't you working with Ludwig on some project?" Ivan said, staring at me.

"Yup." I nodded my head.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Ivan asked me.

My eyes flickered towards Ludwig, who was looking away.

"Shouldn't you of all people be dressed a little more nicely?" Ivan said, with his scary smile.

"Hey, it's a nice dress." Czechia said, trying to defend me.

"Ve... it was last minute." I said to Ivan.

He looked at me almost looking infuriated with the fact that I spoke back to him. His glare was a little frightening. Oh Dio, I wish Kiku was here.

I sat there awkwardly through the party and until the cake cutting. Most of my night was spent trying to make conversations with Czechia a little less awkward and trying to avoid the frequent glances of Ludwig and the angry glances of Ivan.

Lukas and Emil, two boys I knew nothing about, didn't even look like they knew I was here. But I wondered why Ludwig was looked at me so much, but avoided conversation.

Unfortunately for me, that thought made me mad because no matter how I looked at it, it all came back to him pretending he didn't know or care for me. Completely different from how we acted when were were alone. So overall, it was an awkward night. But then, it got worse. It was time for dancing and I knew I needed to get the hell out here.

I texted Kiku. Kiku who was my guardian angel and always saved me when I needed him.

 _Kiku, call me right now. Please!_

Right when I did, Feliks came up to me.

"Feliciano, you've gotta dance okay?" He said to me, in front of all people who were sitting with me, "It'll be loads of fun."

"Feliks—"

My phone rang.

"Hold on a sec." I said, answering it before anyone could see Kiku's picture on my screen.

"Hello?"

"Konbanwa Feliciano-kun, why did you want me to call?" Kiku asked.

"What? Why, nonno?" I said, trying to show that I'm talking with my grandfather.

"Feliciano-kun?" Kiku hesitated.

"Ve? Right now? But I'm at party.." I continued.

"You're at a party? Are you at Feliks-kun's party?" Kiku said.

"What do you mean, nonno? Okay, I'm coming, don't worry." I said.

"What Feliks-kun say to you to convince you to come?" Kiku said.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm leaving now." I said before hanging up.

"My grandpa needs me. I'm so sorry Feliks." I said, looking at him.

"You're joking!" Feliks said, looking upset.

"Ve... don't worry. Kiku and I are still gonna throw you a small party, remember?" I said, getting up and picking up my small messenger bag.

Feliks sighed but nodded. I gave him a grin and a hug before stuffing my phone into my bag and waving at Czechia.

"See you at school~" I said, she smiled and nodded her head to me.

I glanced over at Ludwig and saw him wearing a small smile on his face but he still didn't look at me. I decided not to care.

I left the building right when the music started pumping and sighed in relief but I still had a problem. I had to find a way home. Thankfully, I was very good at figuring out bus and train routes and since I've come around here before to visit the Venezia University, I knew which train to take. I walked down a street line with small shops and stopped an older lady who was walking my direction.

"Ciao! Uhmm, could you tell me where the closest train station is?" I asked.

"You mean to the subways?" The brunette asked and I nodded.

"Just keep walking down this street till you hit Home Depot. You'll see the sign right across from there pointing to a stairway that leads to the station."

"Thanks!" I smiled and she smiled back before continuing on to wherever she was going.

I always liked downtown. It was always busy with people and the buildings were so goddamn old. I love it. It always felt like I was walking down the streets in the 1920's or something. Of course, taking out the new cars, and maybe changing the fashion too and getting rid of all the drug dealers and creeps walking around. That's also one of the reasons for why I chose Venezia University. It's a whole new type of area which meant a whole new life.

As I admired the architecture of the old buildings in the distance, a man walked out from an alleyway I was passing. He stepped in front of me, startling me. I stepped back, my heart beating a little faster. But he held out an empty coffee cup.

"Spare change please." Said the man who was wearing old, dirty clothes and was clearly a homeless man.

I hesitate, but smiled at him. I always felt bad for homeless people and I always give them some of the change that I had with me. They needed it more than I did. Opening the zipper of my small messenger bag, I rummaged through it, looking for change.

"You know," I said, starting conversation with the homeless man, "a lot of people refuse to give you change because they think that you're going to use it on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs."

I pulled out two dollars and dropped it into his cup.

"So make sure you use this money for food. Food is a lot more important than cigarettes and drugs and that sort of stuff."

"God bless your soul." The man said.

I smiled at him but felt something weird in me when I saw him look from my face to my small bag. Suddenly, he grabbed my entire bag and started to run off.

"Hey!" I yelled.

I was about to chase after him but I stopped. I wasn't stupid enough to do that. Not only was he clearly bigger and stronger than I was, but as someone who reads all the time, I know that whenever you go chasing after people who steal your stuff, bad things happen and I've got no Knight in Shining Armor to come save me.

I lowered my shoulders, feeling like I was going to cry and I was just trying to be nice. My phone was in there and so was my wallet. I wasn't rich, it would take me a while to replace all of that and to make it all worse, the messenger bag was a gift from Kiku. How was I going to get home now? All my change was gone.

Suddenly, a white car zoomed past me, startling me. It roared loudly and made the homeless man who was still running, turn his head. I watched the car turn and screech to a stop right in front of the homeless man. It stopped close enough to scare him but not close enough to hit him. He fell backwards in shock after screaming his lungs out.

I didn't realize I had my hands over my mouth until I saw Ludwig get out of the car and walk over to the man. My heart skipped a beat when he grabbed my bag from him and said, "Get out of here!" making the homeless man get up and run as fast as he could. Then, Ludwig walked over to me.

"It's Friday and it's getting late, you're alone on the street and a homeless man asks you for money." Ludwig said as he approached me.

"Only you are stupid enough to pull out your whole bag, have a conversation with him and then pretty much hand it over to him." He added.

I was still in shock to respond to that. Ludwig handed me my messenger bag.

"You've gotta be careful, Feliciano. Especially in places like this." He said.

I took my bag from him and at that moment I sighed in relief. "Ve... thank you..."

"C'mon, I'll drop you off." He said.

"Where?" I asked.

"At home." He said, turning around and walking towards his car which still had its door wide open.

"I can take the train." I said.

"So someone can steal from you again? I don't think so." He said.

I still just stood there. When Ludwig realized that I wasn't following him, he turned around and walked back towards me.

"It's easy as one, two..."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Three." He said as he grabbed my bag from my hands and headed towards his car again.

"Hey! Give it back!" I yelled, running after him.

He got into his car and threw it into his back seat, "Get in."

I hesitated again but sighed as I walked over to the passenger side and hopped in.

"Ve... how did you do that?" I asked him after buckling in.

"Do what?"

"That dramatic stop with your car?"

Ludwig chuckled, "Alfred's dad owns a race car track and lets us use it when it's free."

"Wow..." My eyebrows rose.

"By the way, you're a horrible liar." He said as he reversed off the sidewalk and back onto the road, "I'm surprised Feliks didn't figure it out."

I didn't respond to that. Now that he had mentioned the party, all I could really wonder about was why he was so quiet back at the party but talking to me so normally now.

"I was holding back my laughter cause I didn't want to give you away." Ludwig looked at me, then back at the road.

"Really? Because it seemed like you were holding back your laughter cause your friends were there." I crossed my arms.

Ludwig took a deep sigh, probably not seeing how serious I was. I could hear my grandpa's voice in my head, telling me to confront him. So I took his advice. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? It's not like I really had a friend to lose.

"Why are you doing this, Ludwig?

"Doing what?" He hesitated.

"This!" I said.

He looked at me for a second and back at the road as he pulled onto the highway.

"Taking you home?" He asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No, I mean this whole... being nice to me when we're alone but being a jerk to me when your friends are around?" I said.

Ludwig raised an eyebrow, but he kept his eyes on the road. He kept silent for a moment but then clenched his jaw and then he spoke.

"Isn't that what you'd prefer?" He said.

"What?" I scoffed.

"I made a couple new friends in the ninth grade and you started avoiding me. I thought you preferred us looking like we don't know each other." He shrugged.

My eyes widened. Was he really blaming me for this?

"Ludwig Beilschmidt, you're being ridiculous. Don't say that I started avoiding you when you're the one who started to ignore me!" I said, feeling my anger boil up.

"That's not true. You didn't like the crowd I was hanging with because they were not like you." Ludwig argued.

"Stop the car and let me out now." I said, biting the inside of my cheek.

"Why?"

"I'm not going to sit here and let you put the blame on me, you jerk." I said, tears on my eyes.

Ludwig rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to drop you off in the middle of the road and I'm not a jerk. If anything, you're the jerk, Feliciano Vargas."

"Luddy, c'mon, really? You really, honestly believe that I was the one who started ignoring you?" I frowned.

"Yeah, Feliciano! I saw the way you looked at me on the second day of the ninth grade when you saw me talking to Ivan. You were angry and clearly wanted nothing to do with me." He said.

"Oh yeah? If I wanted nothing to do with you, then explain why I went out of my way to invite you to my birthday, only to be disappointed because you never showed up?" I asked.

Ludwig pulled over suddenly, stopping the car at the edge of the highway and shocking me. He turned and looked at me.

"Feliciano, my uncle in France was having his birthday party on the same day as yours." He said, rather angrily.

"Yeah, right." I pouted.

Ludwig narrowed his eyes at me, "And I gave you a gift to make up for that."

"Stop making things up, Ludwig. I'm not stupid, I remember all the gifts that people give me!" I argued.

"Feliciano, if you don't remember, go ask your grandfather. I gave it to him and told him to give it to you the day before I got onto my flight to France." He argued.

I looked at him, feeling my heart sink for some reason, "Grandpa didn't give me anything..."

"And is that my fault now?" Ludwig asked, raising both his hands up. "I try to make up for it and you still ignore me at school, and now you're even more harsh than you were before. How do you expect me to react?" He said and I bit my lip.

"I assumed you preferred to pretend that we didn't know each other simply cause I had a different group of friends."

I looked down at my hands, crying, "That was still a stupid assumption to make...because that's not true and I still think that you were ignoring me first."

Ludwig rolled his eyes but relaxed his shoulders, seeing that I had calmed down a bit. "Fine, it was a stupid assumption...but you can't deny that I didn't try to fix things."

"By not coming to my birthday party." I sniffed.

Ludwig sighed as he took his car off of park and drove me back onto the highway.

"And I tried to make up for that, Feliciano. Go ask your grandpa. I don't know what the hell he did with the gift but go ask him."

I looked at the window and wiped my tears. There was no way that my grandfather would have kept that gift from me. I mean, what reason would he have for doing that?

We were silent for the rest of the ride home. When he pulled into my driveway though, he looked at me.

"Don't forget to ask your grandpa." He said.

"I won't." I said as I got out of his car, grabbed my bag and shut the door.

When he drove off, I ran into my house.

"Nonno!" I called.

There was no response. I ran up the stairs and saw him sitting in his room, talking on the phone.

"Nonno."

He held his hand up, silencing me. "Right?" He said to the person on the phone, "You'd think—"

"Nonno!" I repeated.

My grandpa looked at me, "Feli, I'm speaking on the phone."

"Did Ludwig give you a gift, telling you to give it to me for my birthday?"

"Ludwig?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Think nonno, did he or did he not?"

"Sorry, give me a second." He said to the person on the phone.

He thought for a second, "Actually... oh...he did!"

My eyes widened and my shoulders dropped.

"Ohhh sorry, Feli. I can't believe I forgot about it... I think it may still be in the glove compartment..." He said.

"Nonno! How could you forget something like that?" I asked, groaning and feeling like a fool. "You keep all your stuff in there, you probably look at it every day!"

"Sorry, it's not like you remember everything, Feli. I'm growing old you know." He laughed.

I sighed then chuckled and left the room. Walking down the stairs and grabbing his keys off the counter, I quickly ran out of the house, opened the garage and got into his car. His glove compartment was open when I got in. I grabbed some of his stuff and placed it on the passenger seat and as expected, it wasn't too hard to find the poorly wrapped box in the small glove compartment.

I pulled it out and felt my heart race. I opened the box and swallowed hard as I looked down at the iron cross necklace, and knowing Ludwig, it was probably pretty expensive. I sat in my grandpa's car, feeling like I was going to cry again. I guess it was my fault that we wasted so many years, pretending we didn't know each other.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6: Just and me Ludwig**

When I got to school on Monday, I sat at my locker and hugged my legs tightly. I was wearing the iron cross necklace around my neck and I couldn't stop this guilty feeling that was burning inside me. Did I really deserve to wear this necklace?

"You okay Feliciano-kun?" I heard Kiku ask.

I turned my head and looked at him, smiling, "Hey!"

He smiled back, walking over to me, "I think you're worrying a little too much about this."

I had told him what had happened. Actually, I called Kiku right after I found the necklace.

I stood up and frowned, "I just..."

I cut myself off when I noticed some girls stop what they were doing and look behind me. That was a clear sign that the royal E-team was gracing us with their presence. When I turned my head, I saw that I was right, as Ludwig walked down the hall with a few of his friends. I bit my lip hard... and even harder when his eyes fell on me. But I took a deep breath and walked over to him.

"Wish me good luck." I said to Kiku as I left.

He stopped walking when he realized I was coming to him, confusing his friends, and I saw his eyes find the necklace around my neck. He look satisfied.

When I go to him, I looked down at my hands, "Ve... I'm sorry."

Ludwig didn't say anything.

"My grandfather forgot about it completely... he left in his glove compartment and then never thought about it again.

Ludwig just crossed his arms. I didn't really know if he was being a jerk or if he was just angry. So I took the necklace off of me and handed it to him, "You probably want this back."

"I don't want it back, Feliciano."

When I looked at him, I saw him smiling.

"It was a gift for you." He said. "I just wanted you to know that I did actually try and I'm not the bad guy here"

I nodded my head, "You aren't." I said. "I'm sorry for blaming you."

"Fine... it was still partially my fault." His smiled faded, "My assumption was a stupid assumption and maybe I should have tried a bit harder to get you back."

My heart skipped a beat. His smiled returned, "Well, at least we got that out of the way, right?"

I nodded my head, "I'm sorry."

We all knew that Ludwig really don't like to smile but he kept smiling, "You don't need to say sorry." He said. "I guess it was all just a misunderstanding."

I sighed.

"Hey," Ludwig called. "We've still got to finish the oral part of the project. Why don't you come over tonight and we'll finish it. Then we'll catch up."

I smiled at him, my heart skipping a beat again. Though I was so upset about the whole thing... he still managed to make me feel a bit better.

"I'll text you." Ludwig said before he gently patted my head, making me feel like one of his dog, and walked off with his confused friends.

I turned around and watched him walk off but when he disappeared through the doors, it was then that I realized all students looking at me. I turned my head and realized that when I meant all... I meant all. Did they think this was some kind of show or something?

"Excuse me everyone, this ain't a movie." I heard Kiku say as he walked over to me and smiled. I chuckled when most of the students turned away and I put my arm around Kiku's waist that make him startle a little.

"So, I guess this means, you guys can be friends again?" Kiku asked.

I smiled, "I guess so."

We did as Ludwig suggested that evening and drove over to his place. I couldn't deny how excited I was to be Ludwig's friend again. But at the same time, I was nervous. He pulled up into his driveway, parking right in the middle like he always does, and jumped out of the car. Even he looked a little more excited.

When I got out of the car and closed the door, I looked up at him and saw him smiling at me, "Ve? What?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I can't wait to hear what you've been up to for the past three years."

I laughed, "Well same goes for you. But first we've got to finish that project."

He nodded as he walked over to the door and opened it. As we both walked in, I was startled by barking.

"Oh, Berlitz! Aster!" Ludwig's smile wider as the huge German Sheppard and Golden Retriever ran over to us.

"Woahhh!They are big now!" I said, laughing.

They both looked up at me, their tongues out and ready to lick me, panting in excitement.

"They're really miss you." Ludwig said.

"I miss them too!" I said as I placed my hand on Berlitz then Aster and pet them.

"Where's Antonio?" Ludwig asked.

The two dogs jumped around a bit, barking. Then they spun around a couple times, making me laugh, and finally, they ran over to the door and scratched on it.

"Hmm, he's been out a lot recently." Ludwig said.

For the rest of the evening, we finished that project of ours. We actually finished pretty early and were able to go through it together once. I was actually a little excited for it now.

Ludwig got up off of his stool and stretched as he walked over to the seat. He sat down and sighed, "So we'll go through it one more time tomorrow and we're good for Wednesday?"

I nodded, stretching too and then getting off the chair to play with Berlitz and Aster who were running around the room on their own.

"Alright, so we're done. That means it's time to catch up." Ludwig said.

I chuckled, "Ve~ You were serious about that?"

Ludwig got up, "Let's go to my room."

I got up too and followed Ludwig, but only after motioning for the two dogs to come with us. When we got to Ludwig's room, he flicked on all the lights and sat down on the couch in front of the T.V. and the dogs jumped up with him. I sat on the wing chair to the left of him.

He sighed and looked at me, "How about we do this. We ask each other questions."

"Isn't this a little weird?" I asked as I lifted myself up so I could sit on my hands.

Ludwig raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

I shrugged, "It's like... I dunno, it just seems weird."

"Well, we've got two options here. The first is to start all over again or the second is to start where we left off. Which would you prefer?" Ludwig asked.

"To start where we left off." I said right away. That was the obvious answer.

"Which means we've got to catch up."

I thought about it and guessed he was right. And I wondered why I was worried about this in the first place. Maybe because we had just really started talking again and who knows what these questions would entail.

"How about we do this" I started, "If I ask you a question, not only do you have to answer it, but I have to answer it too...like, if I ask you what your favorite colour is, you have to say yours is blue and then I'll say mine is white."

"You remember my favourite colour." Ludwig said, giving me a cute half smile.

I let out a small laugh, "Do you get it?"

"Sure. You'll go first." Ludwig said.

"What do you want to do in the future?" I asked.

Ludwig shrugged at my question.

"Ve... still want to take over the family business?" I asked.

Now he smiled, "Yeah, my grandpa wishes."

I tilted my head. I remember when we were kids he was all about taking over their family's job and being rich.

"I wanna just do art. I love art actually." He said, shrugging his shoulders and looking down at his two dogs.

"Ve~ That's amazing Ludwig!"

He shrugged again, "It's a risky choice... I mean, it's not guaranteed that I'd earn a lot... definitely not as much as my family. So I'm not really sure yet."

"But if it's what you like, go for it."

He looked at me and said, "And what are you planning on doing?"

I smiled happily, "Paramedic. I want to be a paramedic."

Ludwig smiled, "Not art?"

I nodded, "Yeah! Alright, your turn."

Ludwig hesitated, but started to watch me carefully, making me feel a little more nervous then I already was, "What happened with your parents?"

And my stomach dropped as my heart rose into my throat.

"Okay." Ludwig said, leaning back and suddenly looking worried. I guess my face showed how I felt. "You don't have to answer that."

The second he said that, I felt relieved again.

Suddenly, Aster and Berlitz who were resting their head on Ludwig's lap, lifted their heads up, their ears pointing up.

"Ludwig! Where are you?"

Ludwig smiled as the two dogs jumped off the couch and ran out of the room, barking happily. He then got up and walked out to the top of the staircase and looked over, "Antonio!" He called back, "I'm here."

When I reached Ludwig, he turned to me and grabbed me by my waist, startling me. Pushing me against the wall, he placed his finger over his mouth and winked at me. My heart skipped a beat. He turned and walked back to the railing and leaned over it. I could see the top of Antonio's head at the bottom of the staircase.

"Who are you talking to?" Antonio asked as he rushed up the stairs.

When he saw me, his eyes widened. I smiled at him and waved, "Ciao Antonio!"

"Feli! You're here?" He smiled.

He walked up the stairs, a big smile on his face, "When was the last time you came into this house?"

"Hmm... couple years?" I answered.

Since Antonio was dating my fratello, he tried to get me to hang out with him. And the last time I saw Antonio was a couple months ago.

"Is my cousin treating you okay? Has he given you something to eat yet?" Antonio asked.

I hesitated, "I'm good."

Antonio looked at his cousin in disbelief, "Ludwig..."

Ludwig sighed and I laughed. Antonio then turned around and rushed down the stairs, "I'll make you something, okay?"

I was going to tell him it's okay, but Ludwig patted my shoulder, "It's pointless. You've unleased the Antonionator."

I raised my eyebrows.

Ludwig walked back to his room, "He adores you."

Lovino had told me that before, but I didn't really understand why. "Ve? Why?" I asked as I followed him.

"Beats me." Ludwig said.

I didn't know what to take of that, so I just shrugged it off.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7: Kiku and Ludwig's surprise**

I walked out of my Anthropology class, feeling a little disappointed. Ludwig and I had spent the whole evening together and we were almost as good as new... or old... whatever. But when he came into Anthropology today, he is simply nodded his head at me before he walked over to his friends. I really hoped that he wasn't going to keep up the 'I don't know Feliciano' act. But as I walked off, I pushed the thought aside. I was probably over reacting. When I go to my locker's hallway, I saw Felix talking with Kiku and I frowned.

"Ve... what's going on?" I asked, as I approached them.

Felix turned to me, "People are saying my party was bad!"

I hesitated, "Why?". As I thought about the party, I got confused because it looked like everyone was having a good time.

"Because Ivan in pissed!"

I raised my eyebrows.

"He didn't like it so everyone didn't like it!"

I gave Felix a smile, "Hey, just cause one person doesn't like your party, doesn't mean everyone doesn't."

Felix crossed his arms, "Do you want to know why that scary Russian boy is mad?"

"No... why?" I frowned.

"Because apparently... you and Ludwig left together!" Felix said.

I hesitated and turned to my locker, looking down at the lock as I turned the knob. "He offered to give me a ride home."

"And now Ivan is mad!" Felix sighed loudly. "Why do you keep pretending you don't even know him when you two seem pretty close?"

I swallowed hard, not really knowing what to say. Suddenly, I felt someone's hand on the small of my back. And because I'm so ticklish, I jumped forward, letting out an awkward yelp as I slammed into my locker. I heard Ludwig laugh as he stepped to the other side of me and leaned against the locker, his shoulder against it, looking at me.

I wonder why he's smiling and laughing since yesterday, what's wrong with him? It's weird. Then, I turned to Felix, whose mouth dropped. Kiku was minding his own business, fixing his locker.

When I looked back at Ludwig, I saw him smiling a little at me.

"I found this in one of my drawers." He said as he handed me a bracelet made of plastic, cheap beads." Remember this?"

I hesitated, "Yeah!" I said, taking a step back. He was standing a little too close to me and I was struggling to breathe. Especially now that my heart was racing at the thought that he had kept that old bracelet safe. But when I looked back at the bracelet, I smiled. I had made matching bracelets when we were younger, one for me and one for Ludwig.

I opened my locker and pulled out a folder, ignoring all the glances and trying to act normal, "I remember when bracelet making was once of the hardest things in the world."

He stopped smiling, "Yeah, you told me that if I break it or lose it you'd never talk to me again because it took you forever to make."

I let out a small laugh, but then remember that I had broken mine years back.

"Where's yours?" Ludwig asked.

I pressed my lips into a thin line. Then, I tried to open my mouth to explain but was interrupted by Czechia.

"Ludwig!" She called as she walked over to us. She looked at me and hesitated, "Is it true that Ivan is pissed at you?"

I looked at Ludwig, who looked surprised, "That's news to me."

Czechia looked at me and smiled, "I heard its cause you gave Feliciano a ride home?"

Now Ludwig rolled his eyes as he stuffed the bracelet back into his pocket. And now I felt worse. Not only was I the reason for why Felix's party was apparently bad.. but I was also the reason for why the Terror King of Hetalia High School was mad at Ludwig.

Czechia asked, "You two are friends? Like, actually?"

"Yeah." Ludwig said as he straightened himself up.

"Close enough for you to run off and give Feliciano a ride home?" Czechia asked again.

I started to feel weird... I didn't want to admit it... but it actually looked like Czechia was jealous. Jealous that Ludwig and I were friends? Why would she be jealous? But suddenly Ludwig gave Czechia a look that made her look away.

Czechia hesitated but then looked back at Ludwig, "Aren't you going to explain yourself to the Terror King Ivan?"

Ludwig snorted, but then he looked at me, "I'll see you later?"

I nodded, "I hope everything's okay."

Ludwig gave me a weird smile again, "Trust me, this happens on a daily basis."

I smiled, I wasn't surprised by that, actually.

"I'll wait for you after school?" Ludwig asked.

"Ve? Why?" I confused.

Ludwig rolled his eyes on me, "The project is due tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah..." I said.

He turned around and started to walk away with Czechia, who gave me a smile before she turned. But then Ludwig stopped and turned around, "Oh, Felix?" He called.

Felix was staring at us the whole time, and his voice squeaked when he responded, "Yes?"

"Sorry I had to leave your party early." Ludwig said, "But it was an awesome party."

Felix swallowed hard and looked around. He looked pleased that a lot of students were listening, "Thanks!"

When Ludwig disappeared past the doors, Felix grabbed my arm tightly, "Feliciano!"

"Ouch!" I winced as I pulled my arm away, "What?"

"He touched you!" Felix placed a hand over his mouth, "He touched you here!" He reached out to touch me but I stepped away, knowing that it would tickle me.

"Okay?" I said, confused.

"You really think you two aren't close?" Felix asked.

I shrugged as I closed my locker and looked at Kiku for help but he was still busy fixing the locker.

"Feliciano, in all the years that I've been watching Ludwig... he's never touched anyone!"

I shrugged again and walked around him to Kiku, "Ve... his hand must have slipped."

"Yeah right! What are you hiding from me?" Felix groaned.

Kiku looked up at me as I approached him, "Please, leave him alone, Felix-san."

But Felix just groaned, "Fine!" He said. He marched off, looking annoyed and angry but at the same time a little flustered. Probably because of Ludwig's comment.

I sat next to Kiku.

"You feel the pressure?" He asked me.

I hesitated and looked at him, "Hmm, what?"

"The pressure of being best friends with the King of Hetalia High School?"

That made me laugh, "Ve... now that you mention it... yeah..."

Kiku smiled, "Well, let me ease the pressure by giving you some good news."

"I love good news!" I nodded.

He smiled and then looked down at his hands. I examined his face, noticing that he suddenly looked a little shy.

"Kiku? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Feliciano-kun, there's this Taiwanese girl that I haven't told you about..." Kiku said.

I placed my hands over my mouth, "No..."

Kiku nodded as he looked at me, "Hai."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, getting excited and turning my body to him. "Who is she? Where did you meet her? How could you not tell me?"

"But it is?"

"Sort of."

I wanted to scream in joy. You see, Kiku was not the type to get close with people.

"I met her at work." He said. "I walked over to her table to take her order and she was one of those spoiled brat flirt's... ohhh... sorry for my words... and was like 'can I have you with a side of love?'"

I laughed. "No way!" At first glance, this girl was definitely not his type."

"Obviously, I ignored in her face and turned her down. But after her and her friends were done eating, they left. But she came back later and walked over to the counter and asked me for my number." Kiku added.

"And you said no." I raised my left eyebrow.

Kiku nodded. "I said no. But then she begged me."

"And you still said no."

Kiku nodded again. "And then she jumped over the counter and told me to give her a chance."

My eyes widened.

"She was like, 'give me a chance, you'll never regret it. I promise.'"

I hesitated. "And you still said no." This happened frequently with Kiku.

"Obviously." He said.

"But what made you say yes?" I asked.

Kiku smiled and his cheeks turned a little red, shocking the daylight out of me. This girl must have done something crazy.

"She grabbed my arm and... pulled me out from behind the counter…"

"And?!" I asked.

"And then, in front of everyone, she got down onto one knee and begged me for my number."

I burst into laughter. "No way!"

"And so I was like fine."

"And you gave her your number?" I asked again.

"Yup..." He said. "She called me that night and asked me out on a date. She took me out to dinner at some Chinese restaurant… but it was fun… you know?"

I nodded.

"And I saw her again after that… and it's been two weeks now since we started hanging."

I clapped my hands together. "Woah~ Kiku! I'm so excited for you… how could you have not told me!"

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?" Kiku said.

"I guess… but… do I get to meet her?"

He nodded. "She's coming to pick me up after school. It's weird right? She's a girl... but I told her I'd only come with her if you approved of her."

I laughed. "I love you." I said, giving him a tight hug. "And I'm so happy you found someone special~."

Kiku smiled. "I hope you like her."

"I'm sure I will." I grinned. "Where does she go? Not here right?"

"She's 17, older than me." Kiku said. "At a college in Venezia University."

"Okay. I'm so excited to meet her." I said and Kiku smiled.

"All the girls or guys here are going to be so jealous when they see you drive off with another person."

Kiku chuckled and he got up. When he got up though, I noticed he looked a little blooming then usual. Kiku was so attractive and cute. He had that natural handsome and confidence that radiated. And none of the rich Asian guys or girls could be a match for him. I could only imagine what this girl of his was going through.

"Oh-la-la. Trying to impress her some more with your cuteness?" I winked at him. Failing at it of course, since I didn't know how to wink properly.

Kiku smiled, "No, Feliciano-kun. By the way her name is Xiao Mei **.** "

I jumped up. "Can't wait to meet the bella~!"

I stood outside with Kiku after school and waited for Mei. And when a girl pulled up on a motorcycle, I was actually a little surprised that I hadn't expected that. She's a girl but acted like a boy.

Kiku walked over to her and I followed as Mei got off her Hello Kitty pink bike and pulled off her helmet. This girl is so pretty and cute like Kiku. She smiled at me and walked over to me. "Feliciano?"

I swallowed hard. She had dark brown, long hair with a curly strand sticking out on the right side of her head. She wears also a pink flowers in her hair and had nice brown eyes. She's wearing a red mini skirt, bluish blazer and pink scarf.

She held out her hand, smiling. "Mei."

"Ciao! Mei!" I smiled.

"You're as cute as Kiku said you'd be." She winked at me.

Kiku patted Mei's shoulder, making her turn to him. "Don't try and flatter Feliciano-kun. He doesn't fall for that kind of stuff."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from your friend." Mei said as she looked back at me. "Do you know how difficult it was for me to get Kiku's number? Let alone a first date?"

I laughed.

"He's handsome, cute and smart but he's so strict." Mei joked.

I laughed harder. Wow. A person that isn't afraid of Kiku? She's definitely the one.

Kiku clear his throat and Mei chuckled. "It's getting cold out, how are you wearing that?" Kiku asked her.

"Cold?" Mei snorted. "I laugh in the face of weather."

"You'd stand out in the snow like that?" Kiku asked, giving him a weird look.

"Yeah." Mei giggled, returning the look. "You wouldn't?"

"Alright, I approve." I said.

"Yes!" Mei jumped.

Kiku smiled at me. "You sure?"

I nodded. "Yes."

Kiku laughed and then shrugged. "Alright then. Let's go."

Mei walked over to me and gave me a quick hug. "Can't wait to see you again Feliciano, you're a little cutie."

I smiled, liking this girl more and more. "Take care of my Kiku."

She saluted me as she walked back to her Hello Kitty bike and put on her helmet. She handed Kiku the second that was hanging on the handle. Mei was acting like a boy while Kiku is... a girl.

Kiku waved at me. "See you tomorrow." He said before he put on the helmet and they drove off into the sunset. Kay, fine. There was no sunset. But whatever. I sighed, feeling super happy.

"Hey, Felipe." I heard someone call.

When they called again and again, I turned around and looked at the boys who were a part of Ludwig's crew.

I then realized Alfred was calling me.

"My name's Felicano." I frowned.

He didn't seem to care about what I had just said. "Was that Kiku's girlfriend, dude?"

"Pretty much." I said.

I saw the disappointment on his face and laughed. "Hehe~" I shook my head. ""You are crazy if you think he'd date you." I said, rather bravely.

"Excuse me?" Said Alfred, confused.

I shrugged. "Ve... Kiku doesn't date guy who get my name wrong."

He didn't respond to that. Because if they knew anything about Kiku, they knew that he loved me.

"Hey! There you are."

I turned my head and was startled by Ludwig.

He looked past me and nodded his head at his friends and Alfred and then looked back at me. "I was looking everywhere for you."

"Ve! I'm so sorry." I had completely forgotten. "Kiku wanted to introduce me to someone… I-"

Ludwig nodded. "It's fine. My car's out in the back. C'mon."

I followed him back and we were soon at his house again. He parked the way he always does. When we got into his house, I was pleased to see Aster and Berlitz. But for some reason, they looked so much less jumpy then before.

"Has they gotten used to me already?" I asked as I bent down to pet them.

Ludwig said. "Nah, they're just has days where they are energetic and high and other days when they're both tired and low. But no matter what, they always comes running when we get home."

I smiled at the two dogs. "What a sweet dogs!"

Ludwig walked up his staircase and I followed, but only after I knew the two dogs was going to come with us. But as I walked up the stairs, I realized something.

In the past two weeks, I had been at his house quite frequently. The though felt weird and made me sigh. But quite frankly, it didn't seem to bother Ludwig at all.

When Ludwig walked into his room, I pushed the thought aside and hesitated. "I though we were working on the project?"

Ludwig gave me a weird look. "It's early. We've got lots of time to do that... how about we take a break for now." He said.

I smiled at him, but followed him into his room. This time though, he opened the door to where his bed was and walked in. I stood outside awkwardly until he turned and looked at me. "You can come in." He said.

I hesitated, noticing that he was holding that bracelet in his hands, but walked in. Walking over to the wing chair, I sat down and looked at him. But wow, was that wing chair comfy. He dropped the bracelet into one of his drawers and then sat onto the side of his bed. Berlitz and Aster jumped on after him.

"Are we really going to take a break?" I asked.

Ludwig gave me a look. "I think I need to rest for a while... I'm a little tired."

"Okay." I said.

I noticed a picture on his side table. It wasn't framed or anything. It was just a picture. It was a picture of him with all his new friends.

"Ve... Ludwig?" I called.

He looked at me. "What?"

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "Why?"

"I heard Ivan was mad at the party." After I said it, I suddenly felt strange.

Ludwig shrugged his shoulders, "He's like that. But trust me, you'll get used to it."

That made me snort. "He doesn't seem quite fond of me. He's so scary." I said. "I don't think Ivan will ever give me a chance."

"Again." Ludwig said. "He's like that."

I smiled but looked down at my hands. It was quite clear that Ivan the Terror King of the school wasn't just not fond of me… he hated me. But oh well, it's not like I wanted to be his friend or anything.

I sighed.

"Did you hear about the Solar System Exhibition that's going on at the Heinrich Science Center?" Ludwig asked, looking down at his phone.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"It's opening on Friday. You should check it out, since you're a freak for space."

I chuckled. "But aren't the tickets to the Heinrich Science Center so expensive?" Well, compared to the other Science Center at least."

"Forty bucks. Not that bad." Ludwig said.

"Ve!? Are you crazy?" I scoffed. "It's only twelve dollars for adults to get into other Science Center!"

Ludwig looked surprised by my sudden outburst. But I wasn't wrong, right? Forty dollars is a lot for a ticket into a Science Center. It was pretty much just a plain old Museum… except for science.

I shook my head. "I would remember if I paid forty dollars for a ticket into a Science Center."

"Well, it's great. Lot's of interactive things to do… they even have a telescope." Ludwig said, watching me carefully. "It's super huge and you can see a load of things."

The idea of going suddenly sounded tempting.

Ludwig got up. "Check it out" He said. "It's worth the money."

I let out a small laugh. "I would if I could afford it."

Ludwig smiled. "Let's work on that project."

Obviously, I went home and did the research on the Heinrich Science Center and from my research, the exhibition seemed to be absolutely amazing! But, I was right about the price. Well, it was actually forty-four dollars and ninety-five cents to get into the exhibition. Another ten dollars to get a chance to look into the telescope they've got. There was absolutely no way I was going to spend that kind of money on that. So I tried to forget about it.

I pushed the thought aside and went to school the next day. After all, I had a presentation to do and I wasn't as good at doing presentations as I was at doing essays. And how could I ever forget… I was also excited to hear some big, important news from Kiku. But as I closed my locker and threw my bag over my shoulder, walking to my first class, I felt someone grab my arm.

I turned around and smiled at Ludwig. "Ve? What?"

He handed me a piece of paper. "Friday, after school."

I hesitated before I took the paper from him. When I looked down on it, my heart jumped.

It was a ticket to Heinrich Science Center with unlimited access to the telescope.

"Luddy!" It almost came out as a scream.

Ludwig smiled as he turned around and walked off. "Don't blow me off on this!" I heard him say. "You know how much I spent on that!"

I swallowed hard, frozen, as I stared at the ticket. My heart was racing and I couldn't figure out why.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8: We're Friends Again (FINAL)**

It was Friday and I was not at all surprised when I saw Felix rushing over to our lunch table, his face filled with shock because of the new rumor he had just heard. After all, half the students in the school were talking about it.

"Feliciano Vargas!" Felix yelled as he sat down in front of Kiku and me.

I grabbed the pasta that my grandpa had made me.

"What?" I asked.

"What is this I'm hearing about you?" Felix wondered.

I looked at Felix, and then at Kiku. Kiku had his eyebrows raised and was waiting for the perfect time to jump in and say something.

"What?"

"You're going on a date with Ludwig Beilschmidt?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not a date!"

"Yeah it is. He asked you out." Felix said.

"Ve... He stuffed a ticket down my face." I said. "He didn't ask me out and who would go on a date to the science center?"

"Ludwig has a boyfriend, Feliciano!" Felix said.

I asked. "Really? Who?"

But as Felix stopped talking and realized the validity in what I had just said… I realized that I personally would love it if someone took me to the science center. Science can be romantic. I shook the thought aside and looked at Felix.

"I don't know who and it's just a rumor.. but... you won't call this trip to the science center on a Friday night a date?"

I shook my head. "Nope. We're literally just going to look at the solar system exhibit. Nothing else." I said. "We're doing some research and that's it."

"Okay. First, he rushes out of my party and goes out of his way to drop you off at home. Then he gives you a pretty, expensive military looking necklace. Then he takes you out to the science center." Felix said. "Who wouldn't think that you two are seeing each other?"

I rolled my eyes. "Felix..." I sighed. "Really? Do you really think that Ludwig Beilschmidt… The King of our school, the most attractive guy that goes here, would ask me on a date?"

Felix pursed his lips and thought. I wasn't offended by the fact that that made sense.

"Okay, fine." Felix smirked, leaning forward. "But all of the other students who have a thing for Ludwig are really upset, Feliciano…"

I frowned. "What am I going to do about that?"

"You know what those rich students are capable of…"

I looked at Felix, not understanding what he had just said to me.

"Felix-san." Kiku called.

We both looked at Kiku.

"You tell those students that if they even think of doing anything to Feliciano-kun, I will beat their...their... asses. Pardon me. " He said.

Felix hesitated. I smiled though, glad that Kiku had my back.

"And tell those students to...to... fuck...fuck off and mind their own business. Pardon me." Kiku continued. "Ludwig-san and Feliciano-kun are best friends. They'll do whatever they want."

"Wait! You and Ludwig are best friends?" Felix surprised.

I nodded, putting some pasta in my mouth.

"How could you not tell me that, Feliciano?"

I sighed. "Ve... I'm sorry." I said, after swallowing pasta.

Felix frowned, but looked at me. "So how long have you been friends?" Kiku, who was busy eating one, looked at me.

"You're grandfather… is real good at making pasta." Kiku said with his mouth full.

I laughed and kissed his cheeks, Kiku starts to blush.

When it was home time, I was surprised by Ludwig, waiting at my locker. I waved a little awkwardly at him as I approached.

"So we have two options." He said, stepping aside so I could open my locker. "The first is you go home, get refreshed and I pick you up… or go now."

I sighed. "Ludwig… I really think you should return the ticket and get your money back."

He rolled his eyes. "I can't return them." He said. "Final sale because of the telescope."

I frowned. "Ve... That's so much money though…"

"Feliciano… forget about the money." He said. "So, are you going home first, or are we going now?"

"Ve~ I think I'll go home first…" I said. "A nice bath would be good!"

Ludwig nodded. "Need me to drop you off?"

"I can take the bus." I said.

"Alright. I'm dropping you off." Ludwig said.

That made me giggle. "Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked as I stopped what I was doing and looked at him.

He raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Even when we were best friends before, you were a jerk." He wasn't really. I was just joking.

"I was not." He said.

I let out a small laugh and closed my locker after packing my bag. "Today is my grandpa's day off! " I said as I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked by his side to his car.

"Okay." He said. "I haven't seen your grandfather in a while."

I smiled. "He probably want's to say hello to you."

"He was pretty awesome, I think it'd be nice to see him again." Ludwig said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Wait a second, his day off?"

I nodded.

"Alright..." Ludwig sighed.

Ludwig told me to be ready by five. Which meant I had two hours and that's more than enough time. When I got into our house, I opened the door and looked around.

"Grandpa?" I called.

There was no response. I walked over to the fridge and noticed a note.

 ** _Feliciano,_**

 ** _Emergency work. My shift ends at four. See you soon my little boy._**

 ** _Love,_**

 ** _Grandpa_**

I smiled and pulled out some pizza from the fridge. After eating it, I walked over to the bathroom and washed myself up. After taking a bath, I put on black jeans and a white t shirt. But the plain t shirt didn't really matter because I threw on a large blue hoody. It was getting late, and it would probably be cold.

I walked into the washroom again to put on my contact lenses and then wiped the steam off the mirror. When the mirror fogged up again, I groaned and turned on the tap, letting it run with freezing cold water. I smiled when the mirrors started to clear up. I widened my eyes and looked up, trying to place my first contact in. I've been doing this for years and it's still annoying.

When I was done with the first eye, I picked up the second contact and went to put it in, but suddenly, I heard the front door click. I frowned and turned my head. "Grandpa?" I called, getting excited to see him.

But suddenly, I noticed that my contact had slipped off my finger.

"Oh no." I said, watching it drop into the running water. "No. No. No!"

I turned off the tap and tried to grab my contact before it went down the drain. "No!"

It was too late.

"Oh no!" I cried. This happened so often.

"Feli?" I heard my grandfather call as he rushed into the washroom.

I turned my head and looked at him. One eye was so blurry that I could barely make out the words on his manager uniform. The other was so clear that I could see how worried he looked.

"Ve... Grandpa... my contact went down the drain." I said.

"Don't you have more?" He asked.

"Nope." I replied.

"Do you want me to buy for you?"

I sighed as I walked past him into my bed. He followed.

"That's okay, grandpa. I'll be late." I smiled. "I'll just wear my glasses."

"Late?" He frowned.

After taking out my other contact and putting it back in its case, I put on my glasses and looked at my grandpa. "Ve~ I'm going to the Heinrich Science Center."

"You are?"

"Oh…" I said. "I forgot to tell you."

My grandpa smiled. "Who are you going with?"

"Uhmm.. Ludwig." I smiled.

Grandpa's eyebrows rose as he leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. "Eh? Ludwig?"

My cheeks started to heat up. "Yeah… why?"

"Is this a date, Feli?"

"No, grandpa!" I said.

My grandpa smiled. "Okay, okay." He said. "You need money?"

I shook my head. "Ludwig paid for it."

His eyebrows rose again. "He did?"

I nodded.

"Isn't it expensive there?"

I sat down on the bed and pushed my glasses up. "Yeah. I know."

Grandpa walked over and sat down next to me. "Are you sure this isn't a date?"

I gave him a weird look. "Grandpa, Ludwig has a boyfriend." I lied.

My grandpa made an 'O' shape with his lips. "Okay. This is definitely not a date then."

I smiled.

"When's he coming?"

"Five." I said.

"Well, at least you'll look the nerdiest at the Science Center… with you hipster glasses and all."

I pushed my glasses up and got up. "They are not hipster glasses."

Grandpa got up too. "Yes, they are."

"Nah-uh!" I smiled.

They were.

"Yes they are." My grandpa said again as he walked to the door. "Do you want me to get you something to eat?"

"I ate pizza." I smiled.

Grandpa stopped at the door and looked at me with a smile. "Are you going to give me permission to say hello to Ludwig?"

I smiled back. "I think he wants to say hi to you too."

"Perfect." He said. "It's almost five. I'll be changed and ready in ten minutes."

I nodded.

My grandpa was ready in ten minutes, just like he said. And moments after, Ludwig texted me, telling me he was outside.

"Grandpa! He's here!"

He walked out of the kitchen, drying his hands. He was now in his regular jeans and t shirt with a button up shirt on top. "Alright, my little boy lets go."

I chuckled as I put on my shoes and left the house with my grandpa.

When Ludwig saw my grandpa, he got out of his car with a smile and walked over to us. "Mr. Vargas." He said as he shook my grandpa's hand.

Something about this was super awkward. "Ludwig." Grandpa smiled. "It's been a while."

"You look great, sir." Ludwig said. "You look young, I mean."

Grandpa chuckled and Ludwig let out a small laugh.

My grandpa put his arm around my shoulders. "Don't tease him about his hipster glasses, okay?" He said. "He dropped his contact down the sink."

"Grandpa!" I frowned.

Ludwig smiled.

My grandpa grinned, taking his hand off of my shoulder and patting my back. "Alright, I'll let you two go." He winked at Ludwig. "Drive safe, son."

Ludwig nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Don't call me sir." My grandpa laughed. "That's way to formal for me."

"Oh…" Ludwig smiled. "Got it."

I waved at my grandpa before I walked around to the passenger seat and got into Ludwig's car.

Ludwig got in too, only after saying bye to my grandpa, and soon we were off.

"Gott, you're grandfather is as cool as he always was!" Ludwig said.

I grinned, loving it when people thought my grandpa was cool.

I looked at him. "He's awesome."

Ludwig smiled. "Yes."

The drive to Heinrich Science Center was definitely closer then the banquet hall that Felix had his party at, so we got there soon. But as much as I hated to admit it… Though I was a nerd, I had never gone to the Heinrich Science Center before. So when I stepped out of the car and looked at the huge building made of glass, with tons of amazing statues and models around it… and the huge telescope protruding out from the top… I was breathless.

"Feliciano," Ludwig started as we walked towards the glass building, "You look good with glasses."

I looked at him, blushing then pushed my glasses up. "Ve... Don't mind me..."

He smiled as he opened the door for me. When we walked into the building, I gasped. It was as beautiful as I had imagined. The ceiling was high up and on it hung hundreds of science-y sort of things. Like microscopes and diagrams of cells and the atom and so on.

When I turned to Ludwig to tell him how amazing I thought this place was, I had noticed that he was already at the desk where we give in our tickets. He then waved over.

As I walked over to him, I looked around and noticed how empty it was. "You'd think more people would be here on a Friday night." I said to Ludwig when I reached him.

The older lady behind the desk laughed. "Aw, the sweetheart here must be a true nerd."

"You got that right." Ludwig said.

I looked at her with a smile. She was tall and pretty, with brown hair tied back in a bun but lots of visible white hairs as well.

"Kids have much more important things to be doing on a Friday night then coming to a Science Center."

I chuckled. I guess she had a good point.

Both Ludwig and I handed her our tickets. And after scanning us in, she looked at Ludwig. "Mr. Beilschmidt, can I see your arm?"

Ludwig lifted his right hand and held it out. She wrapped a neon green wristband around it. She then looked at me and did the same to my wrist. "This is to get you access into the telescope room."

I nodded, my heart jumping in excitement.

"Have a great tour." She said with a smile. "And remember, on Friday nights all meals are half off."

"Thanks!" Ludwig and I said together.

When we had walked off, I looked at Ludwig. "She knows you?"

Ludwig shrugged. "I used my name to buy the tickets. I guess that's how."

"Oh." Made sense.

I then skipped over to the map of the building, leaving Ludwig behind. When I looked at it, my excitement grew and it had finally sunk in that I was here.

Ludwig said. "Can we skip all the Chemistry stuff?"

I chuckled. It was then that I remembered how much Ludwig hated Chemistry.

"Okay!" I said. "But we've definitely gotta go see the biology section." I then pointed at the two floors for biology. "Oh… I get how this works… they've got two floors for each section."

Ludwig nodded. "Yeah… and the physics section is right on top of the biology section… maybe we can go there too."

"Okay!" I said, turning around. "Let's go."

We spent the rest of the evening roaming around the Science Center and I have to say… it was more fun then I had imagined it to be. We spent a lot of time on the Biology floors. Though Ludwig wasn't a biology freak, he was awfully interested in the preserved specimens. Especially the elephant's heart.

And then came the Physics floors. Ludwig was a lot more interested in the stuff on these floors. Especially the things that had to do with cars. And I guess it was a pretty fun floor… there were a lot of things we could interact with here. Like a piano which displays the frequencies of each note.

Not that I knew what that meant. I had little interest in taking physics at school.

"Apparently playing the Piano is all math." Ludwig said as he walked over to me and pressed a key on the piano.

"No way." I said. "Then the kids that play it must be geniuses."

Ludwig smiled.

"Does Antonio still play?" I asked him.

"Nope." He said. "Well… Antonio does but he doesn't go to lessons anymore. He's done all the exams and stuff so he just plays whenever he feels like it."

I nodded. "That's nice!"

"Ready to go to the Astronomy floor?"

I pushed my glasses up, trying to hide my excitement. "Yeah! Sure! Let's go!"

He chuckled as we rushed over to the massive elevators.

When we got to the Astronomy floor I took a deep breath. "This is… absolutely amazing." I said as I looked up.

On the ceiling, which was as high up as all the other floors, were beautiful stars painted on a black background. "They look so real!"

"They just don't twinkle." Ludwig said, looking up too.

I smiled. "Let's go!" I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward and towards the models.

After spending time on the first floor of the Astronomy section, we made our way to the second. And when we got there, we noticed the large wall the separated us from the telescope.

"It's huge… isn't it?" I asked as I ran over to it.

Ludwig smiled. "Looks like it."

"Have you really never been here?" I asked.

"Nope." He smiled again. "First time I'm seeing this too."

I looked up and noticed that the stars that I could see on this ceiling were real stars, since the ceiling was made of glass. I sighed. "This place is amazing."

"Wow, time passed really fast." Ludwig said as he looked at his cellphone for the time. "It's eight."

"When does this place close?"

"Nine."

"Oh no… we only get one hour to look from the telescope?"

Ludwig smiled, "I think that's more then enough time."

I pouted my lips but nodded. I guess he had a good point.

Suddenly the door to the telescope room opened. A woman who looked to be in her fifties walked out and looked around.

When she spotted us, she smiled. "Mr. Ludwig Beilschmidt?" She called.

"How come everyone knows you?" I whispered as we walked over to her.

Ludwig shrugged. "The ticket, I'm guessing."

When we reached her, she held out her hand. "You've got unlimited access to the telescope, right?"

Ludwig smiled and shook her hand. "Yup. That's what we paid for."

She nodded. "My name is Jane and I'll be helping you out."

I smiled at her and noticed her professional look; her black dress pants and white collared shirt and even a white blazer on top. I wondered if she was an astronomer.

"And what's your name, sweetie?" She asked, looking at me.

"Feliciano." I smiled.

"Nice to meet you both." She said with her kind smile. "Are you two on a date?"

We both laughed awkwardly. "No, no. We're just friends." I said.

She gave us a funny look, but we both just smiled back.

"Alright, come in you two." She said, walking into the room.

I felt my heart start to race as we followed her into the slightly lighted room.

"This type of telescope is modeled after a telescope that is called the TMT… or, the Thirty Meter Telescope." She said. "You see it in movies all the time."

I looked around and realized we were in a dome shaped part of the building.

"It's a very expensive telescope and as sad as it is, this version of it isn't as perfected as the ones you would see actual astronomer use." She said. "And this is for obvious reasons including the fact that this telescope was built primarily for the use of the Science Center, for tours and what not. It isn't as if people are using this to study the stars."

She walked us over to a door and opened it up, and inside was a room that was pitch black… at least until she turned on the large, flat screen which covered most of a wall. And I gasped. On the screen were beautiful images of the sky.

"On a real TMT would have even clearer, larger and more vivid images." She said. She then pressed some buttons and it started to move.

"This looks so unreal." I whispered.

I felt Ludwig's arm on my back. "Ask her if you can touch it." He whispered.

"No!" I said. "You ask."

"C'mon, Feliciano." Ludwig said.

The lady chuckled. "I can hear you two." She said. "And yes, you can touch it."

I squealed as I ran over to her and listened carefully as she taught me how to use the controls. It seemed simple enough. I moved the telescope around and I swear I would have started drooling if people weren't around.

"Can we see Neptune from this?"

"Yeah!" She said. "Of course, it wont be as large as Jupiter would be." She then took the controls from me and moved it in some quick, sharp movements, pressing some buttons too. She seemed to know exactly where to go. "There it is."

I placed my hands over my mouth as I stared at the small, but vivid blue orb.

"Is Neptune your favourite planet?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. It's my grandpa's favourite too."

She smiled. "My daughter loves Neptune as well."

I looked at her. "We've all got good taste." She laughed.

And then we spent the rest of the hour looking at planets in a way I've never done before. Wait till my grandpa hears about this.

Ludwig and I couldn't talk about anything other then the telescope as we drove home that evening. But I had a really good time and soon I realized that I didn't properly thank him for it.

"Ludwig." I called when we had gotten silent after talking about the amazing telescope.

"Yup?"

I looked at him. "Thank you." I said. "I really had lots of fun today."

He smiled. "That's what I'm here for. Making sure you have fun."

"Well I'm glad you are."

Ludwig smiled. "So… it's nine-thirty."

"Yeah?"

He looked at me for a moment before looking back at the road. "It's nine-thirty, Friday night, and you really want to go home?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "What else do you want to do?"

I then noticed that we were already driving to his house.

"You can help me paint." He looked at me and for some reason it almost looked like he really wanted me to come.

That made me happy. So I smiled. "Really? Sure!" I said.

Soon, we pulled into his driveway. We got out and walked into his house, and his dogs came running to us.

"Hey boys." Ludwig said, bending down and giving his dogs a kiss.

Berlitz and Aster then ran over to me. I laughed and scratched their head.

"Is Antonio home?" Ludwig asked the two dogs.

"He's always gone." Ludwig said. He looked back at the dogs. "What about grandpa?"

This time, both dogs started barking like crazy and jumping around as if they were the happiest dogs in the world.

I laughed and looked at Ludwig. "They both look happy!"

"That's a sign that he isn't home."

I laughed harder. Wow, even the dogs didn't like him very much. I wonder what happened to his grandfather.

Ludwig then took me back to his new room where he took of his coat and threw it on the sofa. He was wearing a hoodie underneath and he took that off too, leaving on his short sleeved t shirt.

He pointed at my blue hoodie. "You should take that off. It gets really hot in here."

"Ehh?" I said.

Ludwig frowned. "You can borrow one of my shirts if you want."

I gave him a look as I sat down on the sofa. "Ve.. It's fine." I said.

I rubbed the back of my head but soon noticed Ludwig looking at me for a moment before he shrugged. "Suit yourself." He said before turning his back towards me.

He then pulled out a stretched canvas and placed it on a stand in front of him. He then opened one of the drawers and pulled out an old looking baseball cap and put it on backwards. He then jumped up onto a stool and leaned forward, thinking.

I laughed. "You're really transforming into an artist now eh?"

He smiled as he looked at me. "It's my thinking cap."

"Why do you need a thinking cap?" I asked.

"To be inspired." He pulled out a paintbrush and tapped his lip with the back of it. "That's why you're here." He said. "Inspire me."

"You're kidding." I said. "Ludwig, I'm going to be no help at all, although I can paint."

He turned completely on the stool. "Sure you can."

I smiled. "Ve~ How do you normally get inspired?"

He shrugged. "It just comes to me."

"How?" I asked.

He smiled as he stood up. "Come here."

I hesitated.

"C'mon Feliciano."

I got up and walked over to him.

"Pull up your sleeves." Ludwig said.

I did as he said, though I was a little confused, pulling my sleeves up to my elbows and he then surprised me by pulling out another stretched canvas, but this time, he placed it onto a stand in front of me.

He then handed me an oval wooden palette.

"You expect me to paint or you want me to teach you?" I asked, giving him a weird look.

He pointed at all the paint. "Nope, just paint what you like."

I looked at the new, white canvas. "Ve... I think I'm going to waste the expensive board, Ludwig."

"Feliciano, I could buy a brand new car right now if I wanted too." He said. "Buying the canvas is nothing."

I gave him an annoyed look but knew that he was right.

"Just paint something, the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe that'll inspire me." Ludwig said.

I hesitated and then looked at the new palette. "Okay. I'll paint a flower." I said.

Ludwig smiled, but didn't say anything.

When I was done, I stepped back and looked at it. My eyes then flickered to one of Ludwig's paintings that were sitting a short distance away from mine. I sighed. He's now a good artist then me. I remember when he told me he wants to be an artist.

Ludwig smiled. When I looked at him, I frowned, seeing that he was actually smiling pretty hard.

"Okay. I'm lost." I said.

He pushed himself off the table and walked over to me. I turned to look at my flower with a frown. What a waste of a canvas although my painting is beautiful. That board is so expensive.

"You're still great, Feliciano." Ludwig said from behind me.

I gasped when I felt him right behind me, his chest right against my back. He took his left hand and held my wrist. His other hand went around my right hand, grasping it like he was going to teach me?

I slowly moved my eyes to the right, feeling his cheekbone against my forehead. I didn't really realize how tall he was till just now. He moved the palette so that it was closer to his other hand, and so that his arms were around me.

After dipping the paintbrush into the red, he mixed it with some of the other colors and started adding little details to my already beautiful painting, like shading. And suddenly, it looked more beautiful then before. It didn't take him longer then fifteen minutes. But to be honest, I wasn't focused much on his painting at all. After all, I could barely breathe.

"I think you're not in the mood to paint. You are a great artist." Ludwig said.

I let go of a breath I was holding. "It's like your hands are made to create beautiful things, Ludwig..."

I was trying to be dramatic, but for some reason it sounded stupid. Ludwig smiled stepping away from me.

"It's not." He said. He then looked at me, making my heart jump.

"Ve? Really?" I smiled.

"You're sweating Feliciano." Ludwig said.

I looked at him, feeling my cheeks start to burn. "It's hot."

He smiled. "I told you didn't I?" He said as he walked over to the door. "I'll get you something to wear."

I sat down on his sofa as he left the room, feeling my heart race. For some reason… I couldn't help but think that this was starting to feel more and more like it was an actual date but I'm glad that we're friends again.


End file.
